New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard will have "blood on his hands" if a child dies due to a lack of cardiology services at a Sydney hospital, a senior surgeon has said.
The ABC previously revealed more than 100 senior doctors from the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick (SCHR) this week voted to leave the Sydney Children's Hospital Network (SCHN) that has governed it and its counterpart, the Sydney Children's Hospital at Westmead (SCHW), since 2011.
The escalation came as doctors at SCHR claimed all paediatric cardiac surgery referrals had been sent to Westmead since the two hospitals' cardiac departments were merged.
Randwick orthopaedic surgeon Angus Gray said Mr Hazzard was wrong to characterise the issue as a dispute between doctors.
Instead, it was about losing a critical patient service.
"The Minister was warned in writing in November 2018 that if cardiac surgery is lost from Sydney Children's Hospital [Randwick], children will die," he said.
"Their blood will be on his hands."
"Will he be the one apologising to grieving parents?"
In a secret ballot on Tuesday night, 129 out of 148 senior doctors at Randwick voted in favour of leaving the SCHN.
While the vote was non-binding, Randwick doctors were treating it as a last-ditch attempt at becoming an independent hospital after years of what they described was eroding services.
An independent review into the SCHN was ordered by Mr Hazzard earlier this year.
The recommendations are expected to be released in late June.
Asked about the tense situation in parliament on Thursday, Mr Hazzard urged doctors not to go public with their private views.
"At the end of the day it's about a clinical issue that is in the best interests of patients," Mr Hazzard said.
"I would encourage the doctors to continue discussions behind the scenes and not go public."
NSW Health said there were "many differing perspectives" about the future of the SCHN.
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