00:02In December 2021, the Mersey Community Hospital was faced with Northwest Tasmania's biggest mass
00:08casualty event in two decades. Six children died and another three were injured when wind
00:15tossed a jumping castle across the Hillcrest Primary School Oval. The local hospital's
00:20response was the focus of much of day two of the inquest into their deaths. Tasmania Health
00:26Service Executive Paula Highland told the court, our focus was on life-saving treatment that needed
00:33to be provided to the children. Identification wasn't the key priority at the time. That meant
00:39some children remained unidentified for hours and it made it difficult to provide the families with
00:46up-to-date information as we didn't know which child was which. The court heard the mother of
00:51Sheehan waited at the hospital for four hours before she was told her son had died shortly
00:57after he arrived. Ms Highland said the protocol had since been developed so information, including
01:03location in the hospital, can be recorded digitally until a patient is identified.
01:10She said that day had a long-lasting impact on hospital workers as
01:15many of our staff would have either known or known of children or relatives that were
01:20affected that day. Although much of today's evidence has been clinical and technical in
01:25nature, it still evokes strong emotional responses from the victims' families. One mother
01:31left the courtroom sobbing and loved ones have been embracing one another. State forensic
01:37pathologist Dr Andrew Reid also gave evidence. Asked if any further intervention by medical staff
01:44could have changed the outcome, he said no, he didn't believe it would have. The inquest
01:50continues tomorrow.
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