NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Programs

BIRPs in NSW

NSW has seven NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Programs (BIRPs) located in Sydney and Newcastle metropolitan areas with eight BIRPs in key regional centres (Figure 1).

The 15 BIRPs are located in specific LHDs and operate for defined areas of NSW and the relevant to the type of program being provided. Table 16 provides a summary of BIRP services, the LHD in which they are located and the programs being provided. LHDs provide governance and financial management for the BIRPs located in their district and do not separately report on program outcomes to the Ministry.

The three adult inpatient services and the three paediatric in-reach services cover about a third of the state each. Table 1 provides the Greater Sydney and NSW catchment areas of the metropolitan adult inpatient and paediatric in-reach BIRP services. Access to BIRP services and intensity of intervention can be limited by distance and travel time in some areas of NSW, particularly for rural and remote locations.

Some clients will transition from paediatric to adult services upon completion of secondary education, when moving towards improving independence or introducing vocational goals.

The services network includes:

adult inpatient
Transitional Living Program
adult community team
adult case management
paediatric in-reach to acute
paediatric day program
paediatric community team
paediatric case management.

Paediatricians and general practitioners

To strengthen coordinated care close to home it is important to ensure that every child engaged with paediatric BIRP is also linked with a GP as early as possible. Consistent engagement between the GP and paediatric BIRP supports local strategies for holding care close to home.

Children's Healthcare Network

The Children's Healthcare Network (CHN) supports paediatric clinicians to provide high-quality healthcare across NSW. The vision and goal of CHN is that all children, regardless of where they live, will have access to high-quality healthcare, as close to home as possible.

CHN is divided into three regions, Northern, Western and Southern. Each region has a convenor and a coordinator. They are supported by the CHN Paediatric Clinical Nurse Consultants, who are employed by local health districts. The CHN Paediatric Clinical Nurse Consultants provide clinical expertise, support and education to health professionals employed within their districts.

Each region also has:

an allied health educator who provides educational support for NSW Health allied health professionals (including physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists) employed within their districts
a medical lead who provides medical expertise and leadership for the region.

Each CHN works in partnership with the paediatric hospital and LHDs in their region. Paediatric BIRP clinicians need to identify and connect with relevant local key contacts within each CHN to assist with the information regarding local services to support transfer of care to, and establishing partnerships with, local services.

Regional paediatrics NSW

RPNSW (Regional Paediatrics NSW) is a peer-support network for regional clinicians. RPNSW represents doctors, nurses and allied health professionals engaged in delivering paediatric services across regional and rural NSW. RPNSW is passionate about delivering high quality effective healthcare to kids in the bush. RPNSW is aligned with MP4 a group representing Level 4 paediatric services in the metro area, outside the three Children’s Hospitals and have the support of NSW Health.

Summary of BIRP services

Table 1. Summary of BIRP services
Name	LHD	Adult inpatient	Transitional Living Program	Adult community	Adult case management	Paediatric in-reach to acute	Paediatric community	Paediatric day hospital	Paediatric case management
HNE Kids Rehab PBIRT	Hunter New England					Available	Available		Available
Hunter BI Service			Available	Available	Available[1]
New England BIRS			Available	Available	Available				Available
Illawarra BIS	Illawarra Shoalhaven			Available	Available				Available
Mid North Coast BIRS	Mid North Coast			Available	Available				Available
South West BIRS	Murrumbidgee		Available	Available	Available		Available
Northern BIRS	Northern NSW				Available
BIRS Royal Rehab	Northern Sydney	Available	Available	Available	Available
Southern Area BIS	Southern NSW		Available	Available	Available				Available
Liverpool BIRU	South Western Sydney	Available	Available	Available	Available
BIRP, Rehab2Kids Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick	Sydney Children’s Hospital Network					Available	Available	Available	Available
BIRS, Kids Rehab, The Children’s Hospital Westmead	Sydney Children’s Hospital Network					Available	Available		Available
Dubbo BIRP Lourdes Hospital	Western NSW				Available
Mid-Western BIRP Bathurst Hospital	Western NSW		Available	Available	Available				Available
Westmead BIRS	Western Sydney	Available	Available	Available	Available

[1] HBIS provides adult case management to all clients receiving multidisciplinary specialist rehabilitation services. Ongoing case management post discharge from active rehabilitation is provided only to icare and Lifetime Care Scheme participants for 12-18 months.

Table 2. Greater Sydney and NSW catchment areas of the metropolitan adult inpatient services
BIRP adult inpatient service	Greater Sydney catchment	NSW catchment
Liverpool BIRU	SWSLHD, southern sector SLHD and SESLHD	Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, Murrumbidgee LHD, Southern LHD plus the ACT
Royal Rehab BIRS	NSLHD; CCLHD, northern sector SLHD and SESLHD	Hunter New England LHD, Mid North Coast and Northern LHDs
Westmead BIRS	SWLHD, Nepean Blue Mountains LHD	Western NSW LHD, Far West LHD

Table 3. Greater Sydney and NSW catchment areas of the metropolitan paediatric in-reach services
BIRP paediatric in-reach services^*	Greater Sydney catchment	NSW catchment
PBIRT HNE Kids Rehab JHH Newcastle	CCLHD	Hunter New England LHD, Mid North Coast and Northern LHDs
BIRP, Rehab2Kids Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick	SWSLHD, SLHD, NSLHD and SESLHD	Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, Murrumbidgee LHD, Southern LHD
BIRS, Kids Rehab, The Children’s Hospital Westmead	SWLHD, Nepean Blue Mountains LHD	Western NSW LHD, Far West LHD