NSW Premier Chris Minns Vows to Ensure Family of Joe Massa Receives Answers About Toddler's Death

Image credits: Supplied: Elouise and Danny Massa

The mother of Joe Massa is speaking out in the hope that no other parent will experience what she has been through, after her two-year-old son died from cardiac arrest at Northern Beaches Hospital in September. NSW Premier Chris Minns has vowed to ensure that the family of Joe Massa receives answers about the death of the toddler, with a review identifying multiple failures at the hospital, including a failure to respond to the concerns of Joe's parents and shortcomings in the hospital's IT system. The premier has said that nothing has been ruled out, including "further inquiries", and has promised to do "everything we can" to ensure the family gets answers.

Joe Massa's parents took him to the hospital on the morning of September 14 last year, after he had vomited during the night, and he was made to wait two and a half hours for a bed in the emergency department, despite having a dangerously high heart rate. His mother, Elouise Massa, has said that she could see her son "dying minute by minute" and asked staff to give him intravenous fluids, but the request was denied. When Joe was finally moved to a bed, his parents said he wasn't hooked up to monitors, and later that morning, he had a cardiac arrest. Medical staff performed CPR for 29 minutes, and he was later transferred to Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick, but he died due to the brain damage he sustained. The hospital has acknowledged that Joe's death has caused "unimaginable heartache and grief" and has accepted all recommendations from a Serious Adverse Event Review, including improvements around triaging processes and internal escalation processes.

A review into Joe Massa's death has identified multiple failures at Northern Beaches Hospital, including a failure to recognise and respond to a heart rate in the "red zone", a failure to respond to parental concern, and a failure to respond to clinician concern as per internal escalation processes. The review has also recommended reviewing the hospital's patient IT systems, which currently do not automatically flag and escalate dangerous vital signs. The family of Joe Massa is now demanding a public, parliamentary review into the hospital's emergency department, as well as statewide enforcement of the REACH protocol, which informs every parent or carer upon admission of their right to escalate concerns when their child is deteriorating. They are also calling for urgent IT system upgrades to ensure immediate alerts for at-risk patients when human error occurs, and greater scrutiny on the Northern Beaches Hospital's public-private partnership model, which they suggest prioritises financial interests over patient wellbeing, highlighting the need for accountability and transparency in the healthcare system.

The NSW government has apologised for the death of Joe Massa, with Health Minister Ryan Park saying that the family had been "let down" by the state's health system "in the absolute worst way possible". The government has promised to implement all recommendations from the Serious Adverse Event Review and to do better in the future. The incident has raised serious questions about the privatisation of healthcare and the use of public-private partnership models, with the opposition calling for a review of the model and the government promising to take a closer look. The family of Joe Massa hopes that their son's death will not be in vain and that it will lead to changes in the healthcare system to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

The case of Joe Massa has sparked a wider debate about the state of the healthcare system in NSW, with many calling for greater investment in public healthcare and a shift away from privatisation. The incident has also highlighted the importance of listening to parents and carers, and of responding quickly to concerns about a patient's condition. As the family of Joe Massa continues to push for answers and for change, the NSW government is under pressure to deliver on its promises and to ensure that the healthcare system is safe and effective for all patients. The community is coming together to support the family and to demand action from the government, with many calling for a public inquiry into the death of Joe Massa and the failures of the healthcare system.