Lifesaving paediatric heart transplant service underway
Lifesaving paediatric heart transplant service underway
Strategic priority: Safe care everywhere
In early 2024, the 星空体育 performed the first paediatric heart transplant at The Children鈥檚 Hospital at Westmead since the service was formally established in May 2023. Before the service was established, families needed to travel interstate for this life-saving surgery.
The availability of the service reduces some of the financial and emotional stress for sick children and their families, allowing them to access care closer to home.
The benefit of a NSW-based service was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when five children received heart transplants at The Children鈥檚 Hospital at Westmead with the support of St Vincent鈥檚 Hospital, Darlinghurst and the Royal Children鈥檚 Hospital in Melbourne.
Under the new service, 12-year-old Osman was the first to receive a heart transplant at our Heart Centre for Children. After going into heart failure, Osman needed a heart transplant to save his life. A multidisciplinary team of specialists managed his treatment and recovery, but their work was only made possible thanks to the generosity of an organ donor and their family.