Neil Eastwood Street

Dr Neil Eastwood Street AM MB BS (Hons II) M App Sc FANZCA 

Neil Street trained at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and accepted a Fellowship in paediatric anaesthesia at the Children’s Hospital at Camperdown in 1985 before undertaking further paediatric anaesthetic training in the UK at Great Ormond Street. In 1987 he returned to consultant positions at the Children’s Hospital at Camperdown and Westmead Hospital, before taking on a full-time consultant position in 1995 at the Children’s Hospital after it moved to Westmead. He was Deputy Head of the Anaesthetic Department from 2005 to 2015 and Head from 2015-2019. 

In 2001, on a very limited budget, Neil developed the Malignant Hyperthermia testing facility at the Children’s Hospital, eventually providing from 2003 a testing service for NSW and Queensland patients and their families. Together with the CHW biomed team, Neil designed and built his own testing laboratory and continued to use it until recently, trouble-shooting its aging components and repairing it as only a true scientist and outstanding technician could. He was internationally recognized in the MH field and became one of the elders to whom others could turn to get advice and information. He gave many, many hours, much of his own personal time, to managing the MH unit, fielding questions and offering advice to the numerous anaesthetists (and indeed physicians and others) who contacted him with their concerns.

Neil was the epitome of an anaesthetist to which all could aspire. He was kind and respectful to patients, their families and staff at all levels. He was a superb technician with superlative skills. He could and did manage every case that came his way and was free with his advice, which was constantly sought. His special interests included anaesthesia for paediatric cardiac surgery, liver transplantation and spinal surgery, but there was no paediatric sub-specialty that he couldn’t manage with dexterity, knowledge and expertise. He was in demand by surgeons who recognized his calm experience, his exceptional skills and his wonderful sense of humour that could defuse the most tense moment. Neil understood the importance of caring for all patients to the highest standard, be they the sickest pre-term neonate with complex cardiac disease or a robust child with a broken arm.

 In 2006 Neil joined the volunteers of Open Heart International and over the years made many trips to Papua New Guinea (and one to Myanmar) to provide cardiac services to sick children who would otherwise have remained untreated. He not only helped provide anaesthesia in circumstances which would stress anyone, but at the highest level and with an attitude that drew instant respect from those with whom he worked. He was a much-loved regular team member on these annual trips, and he was recognized for his contribution to the training and development of the local anaesthetists and staff, who beautifully acknowledged this in a letter sent to his colleagues and his family after his passing. 

Neil was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 for his significant contribution to paediatric anaesthesia, to malignant hyperthermia and to the people of the Asia-Pacific region though medical aid programs. He was almost -no, actually- embarrassed by this recognition and felt that he had always just been doing his job and no more – a manifest understatement of his contribution, as usual for Neil.

Neil, the person, was a wonderful man, friendly, funny, helpful, wise and perhaps above all, humble. His life reflected the values of irreverence and an understanding that every single person has equal value, instilled in him by his father, Fred Street, a paediatric surgeon, and his mother Gillie. He has been appropriately described as a polymath, equally at ease repairing a motor vehicle, welding up a grass catcher or installing electrical switches in his new caravan, or preparing a baby for complex cardiac surgery. He was a family man to the hilt with a wonderful love for his wife Cathy who had to deal with his huge commitment to his work over so many years. He was enormously proud of his children Philippa, Doug and Alice, their partners and grandson Freddie, and loved them unconditionally, not to mention his close and extended family. It is a great sadness to all that he became sick and eventually passed away at a time when he was planning to spend more time with his family and friends.

With Neil’s passing, there has been an outpouring of both love and grief from all whose lives he touched. There is such a huge sense of loss which can only be countered by the recognition of the goodness and care Neil brought to the world. Those who knew him will remember him as the wonderful man he was, and he will live on in our hearts.

Vale my great friend.

David Baines AM FANZCA