Dear friend,

Thank you to the thousands of people who have signed the “Save Cardiac Surgery at Sydney Children's Hospital” petition calling for the continuation of on-site cardiac surgery including bypass and the delivery of safe cardiac and ECMO services.

Sydney Children's Hospital needs cardiac surgery restored, including medium complexity cases with bypass.

As the Greens spokesperson for Health in the NSW Parliament, I have pushed the Health Minister to respond to important questions about this issue and raised the concerns of clinicians and families. My background as a doctor in Albury-Wodonga gives me a firsthand understanding of the vital importance of this service for families across the state.

You can find the video and transcript of the recent Budget Estimates hearing where I questioned the Minister in the link below.

Despite there being no other facility in Australia or New Zealand providing paediatric ECMO without a cardiac surgical program, Minister Park expressed unwarranted confidence that it could be done because "we are doing it," despite the clear concerns raised by the Sydney Children’s Hospital medical Staff Specialist Council and branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association. This response is not satisfactory.

Your support to Save Cardiac Surgery at Sydney Children’s hospital is invaluable. We need to continue to pressure the NSW government, and your voices in the community are so critical.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to discuss this directly with me - my email address is amanda.cohn@parliament.nsw.gov.au or you can call my office on 9230 2566.

Kind regards,

Dr Amanda Cohn BMed MD MPH MIPH FRACGP MLC

Greens NSW Spokesperson for Health including Mental Health