NSW premier promises answers after two-year-old died following ...

NSW Premier Chris Minns has promised to help a Sydney family find answers following the death of their two-year-old son after he was treated at Northern Beaches Hospital.

On the morning of September 14 last year, Joe Massa's parents took him to hospital in a weak state after he had vomited during the night.

He was made to wait two and a half hours for a bed in the emergency department, despite having a dangerously high heart rate.

"We were ignored," his mother, Elouise Massa, told ABC Radio Sydney.

"As soon as we stepped foot into that hospital, Joe had no chance of survival," she said.

Ms Massa said she could see her son "dying minute by minute" and asked staff to give him intravenous fluids, but the request was denied.

"I asked … at least three times for an IV drip, which is what he needed to survive," Ms Massa said.

"I was pacing around the emergency department. I kept [saying] can we please have a bed? I can't keep holding him."

When Joe was finally moved to a bed, his parents, Elouise and Danny, said he wasn't hooked up to monitors.

Later that morning, Joe had a cardiac arrest.

Medical staff performed CPR for 29 minutes, and he was later transferred to Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick, but he died due to the brain damage he sustained.

"It was clearly a terrible, terrible mistake," the premier said on Thursday.

Review identified multiple failures

A review into Joe Massa's death identified multiple failures at Northern Beaches Hospital.

Joe was suffering from hypovolemia — a severe loss of fluid — yet a triage nurse marked his case as "Category 3," requiring treatment within 30 minutes.

However, his heart rate of more than 180 beats per minute put him in a "Red Zone", and he should have instead been categorised as a "Category 2" patient, requiring treatment within 10 minutes.

The review also found staff failed to respond to the concerns of Joe's parents, who had been pleading for their son to be given IV fluids.

It also found shortcomings in the IT system the hospital used to triage and escalate cases.

Northern Beaches Hospital is run by private provider Healthscope and treats public patients under a contract with the NSW government.

The Massa family is now demanding a public, parliamentary review into the hospital's emergency department.

Minns to consider parents' demand

The premier said he understood the reasons behind the Massa family's call for a public review and vowed to do "everything we can" to ensure they get answers.

"They're after answers for their own family, but they're also after answers to ensure this doesn't happen to anybody else.

"We won't rule anything out, including further inquiries.

"We take this incredibly seriously, and I'm profoundly, profoundly sorry this has happened."

Health Minister Ryan Park has had a phone call with the family and will meet them personally next week.

"A Serious Adverse Event Review has been undertaken and I can confirm Northern Beaches Hospital have accepted all recommendations.

"This incident raises serious questions about privatisation and this type of model — the matter of which is the subject of an auditor-general's review."

In a statement, Northern Beaches Hospital acknowledged Joe's death had cause "unimaginable heartache and grief" and that its representatives had met with the Massa family to apologise.

"We will continue to support the family in any way that we can as we implement the improvements identified in the review, including improvements around triaging processes and internal escalation processes."