The NSW trauma system is based on a network of hospitals that provide various levels of trauma management capability across metropolitan, regional and rural settings.
Through this network of hospitals, definitive trauma care can be delivered to all injured patients across NSW. 8
NSW has 21 designated trauma services: seven adult major trauma services (MTS), three paediatric major trauma services (PTS) and eleven regional trauma services (RTS).
NSW trauma services
-
Major trauma service -
Regional trauma service
- The Tweed Hospital
- Lismore Base Hospital
- Coffs Harbour Health Campus
- Port Macquarie Base Hospital
- Orange Health Service
- Nepean Hospital
- Wollongong Hospital
- Gosford Hospital
- Wagga Wagga Base Hospital
- John Hunter Hospital
- Royal North Shore Hospital
- Westmead Hospital
- St Vincent's Hospital
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
- St George Hospital
- Liverpool Hospital
The NSW trauma networks are closely aligned with the NSW Critical Care Tertiary Referral Networks. The networks are largely determined by the location of the MTS and how critical it is to achieve early clinical intervention for all seriously-injured patients, in accordance with the NSW Ambulance Protocol T1.
An MTS is usually networked with one or more RTS and the associated referring local health districts (LHDs).
| Referring local health district | Regional trauma service | Major trauma service |
|---|---|---|
|
Hunter New England LHD Mid North Coast LHD |
Coffs Harbour Base Hospital Port Macquarie Base Hospital Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital | John Hunter Hospital |
| Northern NSW LHD |
Lismore Base Hospitala The Tweed Hospitala | Gold Coast University / JHH |
|
Central Coast LHD Northern Sydney LHD | Gosford Hospital | Royal North Shore Hospital |
| South Western Sydney LHD | N/A | Liverpool Hospital |
| Sydney LHD | N/A | Royal Prince Alfred Hospital |
|
Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD Murrumbidgee LHDc South Eastern Sydney LHD Southern NSW LHDd |
Wagga Wagga Base Hospital Wollongong Hospital | St George Hospital |
| N/A | N/A | St Vincent's Hospital |
|
Far West LHDb,e Nepean Blue Mountains LHD Western NSW LHDb Western Sydney LHD |
Nepean Hospital Orange Health Service | Westmead Hospital |
- Owing to proximity, hospitals within the Northern NSW LHD maintain a clinical referral network with Queensland.
- Western NSW LHD and Far West LHD have a split critical care and trauma referral network, where critical care patients are networked with Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and trauma patients with Westmead Hospital.
- Owing to proximity, Albury Hospital maintains a clinical referral network with Victoria.
- The Canberra Hospital maintains a referral network for the following hospitals: Batemans Bay, Batlow, Bega, Bombala, Boorowa, Braidwood, Cooma, Crookwell, Delegate, Goulburn, Moruya, Pambula, Queanbeyan, Tumut, Yass and Young.
- FWLHD maintains preferential referral pathways to: South Australia (SA) for patients from Broken Hill and remote District facilities and Victoria for patients from Wentworth and Balranald. If SA cannot accommodate a NSW patient, a NSW destination must be sourced using the existing referral pathways.
Children aged 0-15 years fitting the criteria in the NSW Ambulance Protocol T1 (with due consideration given to paediatric physiological changes) should be transferred, if within the recommended pre-hospital transport time, to a paediatric MTS capable of providing specialised acute, diagnostic and definitive paediatric trauma care. These cases are time-critical and need access to definitive trauma care in as timely manner as possible.8
When direct transport to a paediatric MTS is not feasible, the child should be transported to the most appropriate adult MTS or RTS facility for initial assessment, stabilisation and appropriate transfer. Pre-hospital notification to the NSW Ambulance Operations Centre and activation of the rapid launch trauma coordinator model and the Newborn and paediatric Emergency Transport Service will facilitate an early retrieval response to support efficient transfer to a designated paediatric MTS.
| Referring local health district | Child health network | Major trauma service |
|---|---|---|
|
Hunter New England LHD Mid North Coast LHD Northern NSW LHDi | Northern | John Hunter Children's Hospital |
|
Central Coast LHD (Gosford, Wyong) Far West LHDii Nepean Blue Mountains LHD Northern Sydney LHD (Hornsby, Ryde) South Western Sydney LHD (Liverpool, Fairfield, Concord) Western NSW LHD Western Sydney LHD | Western | Children's Hospital at Westmead |
|
Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD Murrumbidgee LHDiii Northern Sydney LHD (Manly, Mono Vale, Royal North Shore) South Eastern Sydney LHD South Western Sydney LHD (Bankstown, Bowral, Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury) Southern NSW LHDiv Sydney LHD Australian Capital Territory (ACT) | Greater Eastern and Southern | Sydney Children's Hospital |
- Owing to proximity, referrals from the Northern NSW LHD may go to Brisbane.
- Owing to proximity, referrals from the Far West LHD may go to Adelaide.
- Owing to proximity, Albury Hospital maintains a clinical referral network with Victoria.
- Owing to proximity, referrals from the Southern NSW LHD may go to Royal Children’s Melbourne.