Hasbeen, if you google info on Royal Childrens Hospital and New Childrens Hospital you will find lots of info and newspaper articles way back to 2009 when the fight intensified with us parents becoming involved, there are articles that appeared in Townsville and outer areas where we were stating that the possible blowout of over $2billion should have been used to upgrade facilities up north and outer regions, this didn't happen and the original cost of 700 million for a pretty new hospital that doesn't even cater for the current population much less than future (and this will impact greatly on families from up north) as there is going to be a lack of outer town accommodation. The impact of the closure of the Royal Childrens will be felt by all of Queensland's children and families. The Beattie/Bligh govt did not have our children at heart when this decision was made and the Newman govt has broken pre-election promises to keep our children safe...We are not only losing a fully functional hospital we are also losing highly qualified medical staff that are standing up for the rights of the children... The secrecy and false planning needs to be followed through with a Royal Commission and only then will our children continue with the quality care they now have...The sad thing is QHealth is allowing the RCH to become a sad and crestfallen place with staff morale low, the staff are fearful of speaking about the move to the new hospital and as a parent i resent the fact that this wonderful hospital has been subject to this major upheavel. As parents we have not been able to stop the building of the New Hospital but in reality the fight continues to keep the Royal Children's hospital open for future use in its current capacity as population growth will warrant both hospitals by 2014 as there will be two hospitals merging, (the RCH and the Mater Children's) both usually running at capacity even now without the merger.

Poirot...The sad reality is the Government is moving the Royal Children's hospital to one of the busiest areas of the city, an area that is not easily accessible to families from both north and south areas...They are also removing it from a major medical complex the adults hospital that is attached by a corridor, enabling families to remain together in crisis times...such a children and parents in cases of accidents, seriously ill newborn babies and mothers without the need to be seperated by peak hour traffic and distance which will become a reality if we lose our battle. This fight has become a political football and the focus has been lost on the reality of this decision...The LNP has continued with Labors lies and even though they have been with us on the journey to fight the decision from day one and have all the facts we have been let adrift in this area so it is up to the doctors and families to continue this fight..We have many voices as our voices come from our children. Congratulations on the WA government for having the hindsight to attach the childrens to a main medical facility.

Hi fightingmum - welcome to the forum.

It seems the Queensland government is doing the exact opposite of the WA government. Our present children's hospital, Princess Margaret, has been in its current location for years. But it's squashed into a busy intersecting area. The move is actually going to unite it with the campus of the QE2 medical centre only a another suburb along, but marginally less busy and still very central, and with the added bonus of it being linked with a first class medical campus.

They are also building the new Fiona Stanley hospital south of the metro area in an area of growing population. Both these buildings are huge undertakings, but seem to be quite visionary.

Getting back to kids health, we have a telethon here in Perth every year to raise money for the Telethon Institute - a research facility set up by Fiona Stanley (it raised 16 million dollars this year)...all in all WA seems to have prioritised children's medical infrastructure, and perhaps other states could take a leaf out of the WA governments book in that regard.

Good on you for speaking up - good luck in the future.

To Poirot
Your comparison of rational Perth and irrational Brisbane are spot on. Thank you.The surreal madness of breaking up a well-functioning complex of 3 major mutually supporting teaching hospitals and medical school is a predictable result of the lack of any supportive evidence-based documentation. The secretive process leading to the decision is a grimly fascinating saga of abuse of due process. In the meantime, Queensland is bleeding, and staff are being sacked because the Newman Government, in spite of pre-election assurances, has no intention of controlling a $2 billion haemorrhage this plan is causing.
From Arwi.