Canberra hospitals will be able to deliver a higher level of care to critically ill children to keep up with a significant increase in demand.
The ACT government is hopeful new investments will mean more children will be able to be treated in the capital but stressed many will still need to travel to Sydney for treatment.
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Monday announced the government would expand the territory's paediatric services with funding allocated in the territory budget. She said there had been a significant increase in demand for inpatient care for children in the territory.
"We know we can deliver that higher level of critical care here in the ACT and now we have the population base to support that," she said.
The budget will include funding for eight inpatient beds and a new paediatric critical care team with specialists to be recruited.
It can be challenging to hire new specialists but Ms Stephen-Smith believed the new model-of-care could help in recruiting staff. She said she had received feedback from paediatricians that the capital was a good place to work given the variety offered.
"You get to see some more significant cases and more complex cases than you would in a regional hospital but you also get that breadth of experience, whereas in a children's hospital you might end up having to really highly specialise in a particular type of paediatric care," she said.
The new critical services building will include four new paediatric beds but there will not be a full intensive care unit for children.
A 2021 review into paediatric services at Canberra Hospital found there was demand for paediatric intensive care beds. This review found there were gaps in care for critically unwell children aged between one and 12.
"We simply don't have the population here in the ACT and surrounding region to support a full paediatric intensive care unit," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"But we do know that we need to be able to support children who are deteriorating or in need of critical care at a higher level than we had been able to do up until this point."
The paediatric services review found concerns in paediatrics, including a lack of appropriate care settings for deteriorating patients and workforce and training gaps.
The review also highlighted there was a lack of formal arrangements with Sydney hospitals and it was recommended these were strengthened.
The budget will include an expansion of services for children and adolescents who return after being treated interstate for a serious illness or trauma event. This will include rehabilitation services that were previously not available in the capital.
"This is really about building a bridge between the kind of level of care that our current services can provide to children who are critically ill and with care that will need to continue being provided in Sydney," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
About $57.6 million of new funding is going into expanding paediatric services. About $18 million of this will go towards expanding the neonatal intensive care unit and special care nursery at Canberra Hospital.
The ACT budget will be handed down on June 25.
