The Children's Hospital at Westmead

The Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW; formerly Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children) is a children's hospital in Western Sydney. The hospital was founded in 1880 as "The Sydney Hospital for Sick Children". Its name was changed to the "Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children" on 4 January 1904 when King Edward VII granted use of the appellation 'Royal' and his consort, Queen Alexandra, consented to the use of her name.

The Children's Hospital at Westmead
Sydney Children's Hospital Network
Hospital entrance
Map
Geography
LocationCnr Hawkesbury Rd & Hainsworth St, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates33°48′06″S 150°59′31″E / 33.8017°S 150.992°E / -33.8017; 150.992
Organisation
Care systemMedicare (Australia)
FundingPublic hospital
TypeSpecialist; Teaching
Affiliated universityUniversity of Sydney
NetworkNSW Health
Services
Emergency departmentYes: Pediatric Major Trauma Centre
Beds340
Helipads
Helipad(ICAO: YXWM)
Number Length Surface
ft m
1 aluminium
History
Opened1880
Links
WebsiteOfficial website
ListsHospitals in Australia

The Children's Hospital at Westmead is one of three children's hospitals in New South Wales. It is currently located on Hawkesbury Road in Westmead and is affiliated with the University of Sydney.

On 1 July 2010, the Children's Hospital at Westmead became part of the newly formed The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network (Randwick and Westmead), incorporating the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children.[1]

History

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Foundation as the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children

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RAHC Camperdown

The hospital was opened in 1880 as the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children. In 1878, Jessie Campbell-Browne, wife of the Member for Singleton, had gathered a group of women to discuss the merits of establishing a children's hospital in Sydney; the outcome of Campbell-Browne's overtures was the new hospital. It soon outgrew the small building in which it was housed at Glebe Point. In 1906, it moved to a much grander building, designed by Harry Kent in Camperdown, where it stayed for 89 years, where it was known as the Camperdown Children's Hospital.[2]

Relocation and renaming

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In 1995, the hospital was relocated to its current location in Westmead to better serve the growing populations of Western Sydney. This relocation involved amalgamation with most of the paediatric services of nearby Westmead Hospital (apart from neonates) to form a new hospital with a new name, initially "The New Children's Hospital" and, more recently, "The Children's Hospital at Westmead".

The official name of the Children's Hospital at Westmead, the "Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children", is retained.

Services

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The Children's Hospital at Westmead is one of the busiest Children's Hospitals in New South Wales seeing over 80,000 patients annually. In addition to the emergency department, outpatient clinics and inpatient departments receive patients by general practitioner and specialist referral.[3]

Adolescent health

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The Adolescent Medicine at The Children's Hospital at Westmead seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of young people aged 12–24. The key focus areas include developing information and resources; capacity building to increase workers' skills and confidence in adolescent health; supporting applied research; advocacy and policy development to increase leadership and action for adolescent health.[4]

Paediatric transgender care controversy

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In February 2023, a team of doctors at Westmead led by Joseph Elkadi, Catherine Chudleigh, and Ann M. Maguire published an article in the paediatric journal Children examining the developmental pathway and clinical outcomes of 79 transgender children who presented at the hospital's gender service, the conclusions of which are contested.[5] The authors concluded that gender-affirming healthcare is, in effect, "iatrogenic" and a "non-standard risky approach". Their conclusions were widely repeated in numerous articles in conservative or right-leaning media outlets in Australia, citing "legal and safety fears" over gender-affirming healthcare.[6][7][8] Commenting on media discussion of the research, an ABC Australia article by Patricia Karvelas, Lesley Robinson and Carla Hildebrandt said that the research was "being weaponised by anti-trans activists and proponents of alternative forms of gender care."[6]

The conclusions reached in Elkadi et al's article presenting their Westmead study were subsequently analysed and strongly disputed by the peak body for transgender healthcare in Australia, the Australian New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health (AusPATH).[9] In a response letter dated 1 March 2023, AusPATH held that the Westmead study's authors displayed "significant bias" in their use of terminology and selection of supporting literature. For example, AusPATH found the Westmead article cited "discredited literature"; that it included a preponderance of marginal literature that tended to be critical of the gender-affirming approach, without any balancing consideration of the "well-described, established" body of work demonstrating benefits of the more medically-accepted treatments. AusPATH also identified what, in its view, were a range of methodological flaws and misrepresentations of data in the Westmead study. In particular, its use of the scientifically-unverified "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" (ROGD) classification for study participants compromises the validity of the Westmead research, according to AusPATH. The Westmead study's authors were also criticised for using "de-humanising" anti-trans language and for "pathologising" gender diversity in a discriminatory way in their article.[6][9]

In July 2023, the Health Minister for New South Wales, Ryan Park, announced the government would commission a state-wide review of gender-affirming care, to be undertaken by the health policy group the Sax Institute. The review was initiated following a "string of staff resignations", which ABC News, Australia said were linked to the disputed research; the ABC characterised the research as "endorsed by the hospital hierarchy".[10]

Notable people

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Notable staff and board members

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Some notable individuals connected to the history of the Children's Hospital are:

Notable patient

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Notable individual connected to the history of the Children's Hospital are:

  • Sophie Delezio (born 2001) – treated at the hospital after being badly injured in a car crash at two years old. She suffered burns to 85 per cent of her body but survived and was released from hospital six months later in June 2004.[17]

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Health Services Order 2010" (PDF). NSW Government.
  2. ^ Venables, Lisa (2014) [First published 2000]. Saving Zali. Sydney, Australia: Pan Macmillan Australia. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-74261-290-4.
  3. ^ "Department quick list". Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. 26 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Adolescent Medicine at The Children's Hospital at Westmead". Sydney Children's Hospital. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  5. ^ Elkadi, Joseph; Chudleigh, Catherine; Maguire, Ann M.; Ambler, Geoffrey R.; Scher, Stephen; Kozlowska, Kasia (7 February 2023). "Developmental Pathway Choices of Young People Presenting to a Gender Service with Gender Distress: A Prospective Follow-Up Study". Children. 10 (2): 314. doi:10.3390/children10020314. PMC 9955757. PMID 36832443.
  6. ^ a b c Karvelas, Patricia; Robinson, Lesley; Hildebrandt, Carla (9 July 2023). "Controversial research pulls Westmead children's hospital into centre of fight over gender care". ABC News. Retrieved 9 July 2023.; Karvelas, Patricia; Robinson, Lesley; Hildebrandt, Carla (9 July 2023). "'We did all we could': Noah was desperate for gender care. He died waiting for help". ABC News.
  7. ^ For examples in one such newspaper, The Australian, see:
  8. ^ Telfer, M. M.; Tollit, M. A.; Pace, C. C.; Pang, K. C. (2020), Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents (PDF) (Version 1.3 ed.), Melbourne: The Royal Children's Hospital; Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH)
  9. ^ a b Telfar, Michelle (1 March 2023). "AusPATH response to: Elkadi; Chudleigh; Maguire; Ambler; Scher; Kozlowska (2023). 'Developmental Pathway Choices of Young People Presenting to a Gender Service with Gender Distress: A Prospective Follow-Up Study'. In Children, 10 (2): 314". Australia New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health (AusPATH). Retrieved 1 July 2023.
    • In response to: Elkadi, J., et al. (7 February 2023). "Developmental Pathway Choices of Young People Presenting to a Gender Service with Gender Distress: A Prospective Follow-Up Study". Children. 10 (2): 314. doi:10.3390/children10020314
  10. ^ Cornish, Ruby; Karvelas, Patricia (11 July 2023). "Review announced into delivery of gender-affirming care in NSW following Four Corners investigation". ABC News.
  11. ^ Yu, John (2007). "Dods, Sir Lorimer Fenton (1900–1981)". In Dianne Langmore; Darryl Bennet (eds.). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 17. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 9780522853827. Retrieved 11 August 2012 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  12. ^ a b Hamilton, D. G. (1979). Hand in hand: The story of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney. Sydney: Ferguson. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-909134-24-2.
  13. ^ Dods, Lorimer (1981). "Sir Charles Percy Barlee Clubbe (1854–1932)". In Bede Nairn; Geoffrey Serle (eds.). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 8. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84219-4 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  14. ^ Cowden, Victoria (1983). "Margaret Hilda Harper (1879–1964)". In Bede Nairn; Geoffrey Serle; Christopher Cuneen (eds.). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 9. Netley, South Australia: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84273-9 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  15. ^ Lancaster, Paul A. L. (1996). "Sir Norman McAlister Gregg (1892–1966)". In John Ritchie; Christopher Cuneen (eds.). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84717-X – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  16. ^ Lincoln, Merrilyn, "Rosa Angela Kirkcaldie (1887–1972)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 8 December 2023
  17. ^ Delezio, Carolyn. "Sophie's Day of Difference". Day of Difference. Retrieved 16 August 2021.