Canberra Families Deserve Better Than a Road Trip for Healthcare

Thirty minutes into the new year, I was woken by a call from my son's friend's mum.

There'd been a freak fireworks accident involving my 15-year-old son. An old family firework had exploded in his face. Thankfully, due to quick thinking, he was immediately placed under a cold shower and escaped with first-degree burns rather than life-changing injuries.

An ambulance took us to North Canberra Hospital, where the night staff were exceptional. They cleaned and dressed his burns and contacted Canberra Hospital's plastics unit for advice on ongoing treatment.

Then came the news that stunned us.

Because my son was three months short of his sixteenth birthday, Canberra Hospital plastics would not treat him. Instead, we were told to drive him to Sydney’s Westmead Children's Hospital. With no ambulance transfer available, we packed a bag and set off on New Year's Day after a sleepless night. After another five-hour wait in Sydney, he was finally admitted just after midnight.

That experience exposed something many Canberra families already know: despite living in Australia's capital, too many of us are still forced to leave the ACT to access healthcare.

As a mum of four, I've spent more hours than I care to remember navigating our health system. Broken bones, surgery, specialists, physiotherapy—you name it, we've experienced it. One of my children spent sixteen years under the care of a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, initially through Sydney Children's Hospital before continuing privately in Bowral and Goulburn we couldn’t sustain extensive travel required. Fortunately, Canberra Hospital's paediatric physiotherapy team provided outstanding support throughout. Without them, many local families would be left with nowhere to turn.

My family's experience is far from unique.

Canberra continues to face shortages of specialist doctors, GPs and other health professionals, forcing many residents to seek treatment across the border. For a city of more than 480,000 people—and the nation's capital—our healthcare system too often functions like that of a large regional centre rather than a modern capital city.

The recent announcement that Canberra Private Hospital will close only adds to those concerns. The loss of private surgical services will inevitably place additional pressure on an already stretched public health system, leaving patients with even fewer options and longer waits.

Cross-border healthcare will always be important for the ACT, and our relationship with NSW is one of our greatest strengths. But it should complement our health system, not compensate for gaps in essential services.

The good news is that these challenges are not without solutions. Building a stronger healthcare workforce must become a priority, not just for health but for every sector that is critical to the ACT's growth and future wellbeing. That means investing in long-term workforce planning, expanding specialist training pathways, improving professional development opportunities, and ensuring our hospitals have appropriate staffing levels to reduce burnout, improve workplace culture and give healthcare professionals every reason to build their careers in Canberra.

No parent should have to wonder whether their child will receive treatment simply because they are fifteen years and nine months old instead of sixteen. No family should be forced onto the Hume Highway after a medical emergency because the nation's capital cannot provide the care they need.

If the ACT is serious about being Australia's capital, we must invest accordingly. That requires governments to work together to provide the funding our health system needs to attract, train and retain the doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and specialists who will care for our growing community. Canberra families deserve a health system that reflects the city we have become, one that gives parents confidence that when the unexpected happens, the care they need is available close to home.