There are grave fears within the government agency running Perth Children's Hospital over the relocation of the planned $1.8 billion Women and Babies Hospital to Murdoch.
A leaked draft report shows a warning from within the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) of an increased risk of death and disability for new born babies if the government continues with its plan.
The document is a draft position paper dated last week in response to the health minister's shock decision.
It completely rejects the decision to build the maternity hospital 20 kilometres away from Perth Children's Hospital, in part because at peak hour it's a 40-minute drive from the state's best paediatric surgeons.
"[The] Child and Adolescent Health Service is sounding the alarm, raising a red flag of this extreme risk," the draft report states.
There are seven recommendations in the report, all of them warnings.
It says the plan poses "unacceptable risks" to women and babies, particularly newborns.
"Transport poses a significant risk of morbidity and mortality for critically unwell neonates," it says.
"The neonates are fragile and corridor transfer minimises the risk of destabilisation."
The move has been slammed by unions and former paediatricians.
"The depth of concern by senior clinical experts remains significant and should not be dismissed as a 'few unhappy doctors'," the draft CAHS report says.
Contributing to the report were directors of Perth Children's Hospital and Neonatology, heads of department, consultants, clinicians, clinical planners and data analysts.
Late on Tuesday, CAHS management responded to the leaked draft with chief executive Valerie Jovanovic distancing herself from it, saying she hasn't endorsed the report and nor had anyone on the board.
Jovanovic said the official position of CAHS was to accept the move to Murdoch, putting her at odds with the senior clinicians inside the agency who authored the draft report.
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson is also standing firm, saying the move to Murdoch will avoid a decade of disruption of the QEII site and is consulting with clinicians on the best way to make it work.
