Sick children are still being forced to trek up to 15 minutes for treatment at Perth Children Hospital after it closed its basement carpark to help control entry points and minimise the spread of COVID-19.

Six weeks after 6PR Mornings broke the story and a month after Amber-Jade Sanderson said she would fix the situation “imminently”, the Health Minister said in Parliament on Tuesday the carpark’s closure was helping lower the risk of children seeking Oncology treatment from catching COVID-19.

This was disputed by parents of sick children, who told Mornings host Liam Bartlett not only was the new, distant carpark next to a COVID testing clinic, but their kids were potentially being exposed to COVID by having to undertake RATs in the main hospital area alongside other patients and visitors.

“Our experience since the restrictions has put us in these testing facilities up to 15 to 25 minutes waiting for RAT results,” said Dan, whose five-year-old daughter Ivy suffers from leukaemia.

“I’m not a health expert but I just look at common sense and I’ve had some discussions with senior executive and the nursing director at the hospital and effectively from day one my opinion was they were never going to change this, and it was never a short-term thing, it just seems to resemble another broken promise that this was going to get fixed soon.

“I understand that they’re dealing with something quite involved with lots of moving parts, but it was evident they were never going to change their position and revert back to us parking under the hospital and I just see there are some alternative options that haven’t been considered on behalf of the patients.”

Tap PLAY to hear the Health Minister being questioned in Parliament and from parents of sick children being treated at PCH.