UNIVERSITY of Canberra lecturer Megan Watts has accused staff at Canberra Hospital of “gross incompetence” in caring for the developmental needs of her baby granddaughter, who has been in the intensive Special Care Nursery for four months and, through covid circumstances, is now denied any level of family care.   

Ms Watts has written to Health Minister Rachel Stephen Smith complaining that the hospital staff have failed to provide family centred care concerning the on-off permission to visit her granddaughter Claire Whelband. To date, only the baby’s parents have been able to visit. However, today Claire’s father required a covid test, so the household is now isolating.

Ms Watts is seeking permission to visit and provide care to her granddaughter while her family awaits the results of their covid test. 

“Claire needs human contact for more than nappy changes and administration of medication. She needs skin-on-skin extended contact with people who have time to sit and hold her, sing her songs and read to her. She needs to be able to form sound emotional attachments, or there is a developmental risk,” Ms Watts writes.

“Claire has no human contact outside of the nursing staff. I rang the Special Care Nursery, and after almost half an hour on hold (and being hung up on once), I spoke to a person who advised me that they were the team leader.

“I explained the situation to them, and requested permission to visit Claire. I was told that my daughter needed to make the request. So that’s what happened, and at approximately 1pm, she was verbally given permission for me to attend. Just after 2pm I received a phone call from my son-in-law advising that the team leader had withdrawn the permission.

“I have no faith in the knowledge or decision-making capacity of the team leaders in the Special Care Nursery. This is not family centred care. This is gross incompetence.”

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