Trauma Service
Liverpool Hospital is the NSW Health Department designated adult major trauma service for the South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD), and the only currently formally verified (accredited) Level 1 Trauma Centre in Sydney.
As required of a Level 1 Trauma Centre, we have all the components necessary for the optimal care of the trauma patient including injury prevention, a well-established prehospital system of care and transport, all clinical specialties and disciplines for acute management such as dedicated intensive care and all surgical specialties including orthopaedics, cardiothoracics, neurosurgery, plastics and reconstructive, faciomaxillary, urology, vascular, as well as a brain injury unit, a rehabilitation team, and a very comprehensive educational and training curriculum and finally a research unit.
We look after people with severe injuries from car crashes, pedestrian injuries, assaults, gunshot and stab wounds, industrial work-related accidents and falls from ladders, roofs, windows, balconies and from standing.
We are a specialised Brain Injury Centre which also services the state of NSW. We are not a Specialised Burns or Spinal Service and therefore secondarily transfer our patients, once stabilised and all life or limb threatening injuries are dealt with, to three Sydney hospitals. Isolated burns injuries are sent to Concord, isolated Spinal Trauma is sent to Prince of Wales and if patients need transfer to another major trauma centre requiring specialised spinal and/or burns management, to Royal North Shore Hospital. We are not a Paediatric Trauma Centre and therefore Paediatric patients are transferred to the Westmead Children’s Hospital.
Trauma patients access Liverpool hospital via the following means:
- Self-present by private car or walking
- Primary Road Transfers performed by NSW Road Ambulance via T1 protocol
- Ambulance Service of NSW Aeromedical – Fixed Wing and Rotary
At Liverpool Hospital around 60% of our patients arrive by Road Ambulance with around 35% by Helicopter. A small number access the hospital directly or are transferred by fixed wing from wider NSW regions.
Liverpool is the major service for Southwest Sydney and act as a referral base for 5 District hospitals which are on trauma bypass, Bankstown, Fairfield, Bowral, Campbelltown, and Camden. We have excellent relationships and links with these hospitals and provide educational and clinical support via our Area Trauma Coordinator and Trauma Fellows.
We offer life-saving care for severely injured patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Trauma patients are automatically admitted under a Trauma bed card in a consultant led service. In hours there is a separate dedicated Trauma Roster on weekdays which has a Trauma Surgeon in house and attending all trauma calls, doing all clinical rounds, radiology rounds and afternoon handover rounds as well as leading any operative intervention necessary. After hours, on weekdays and on weekends, the General Surgeon on the roster admits new trauma patients but these are automatically transferred to the Trauma Service the next day or on Monday after a weekend.
The trauma service is a well-established, longstanding department (second oldest service in Australia) with an excellent infrastructure and organisation, a well-known leader in trauma care nationally and internationally and recognised by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Verification committee as the binational (Australia and New Zealand) leader in Trauma Education and Training.