The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (SCHHS) identified a need for an experienced medical and nursing retrieval team to road transfer critically ill patients within the district during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SCHHS contains five health facilities spanned across 100km, a distance normally requiring rotary service. The SCHHS response was initiated to ease burden on RSQ during the pandemic, improve response capability to ensure quality patient care and improve district expertise.
Sunshine Coast Covid-19 response retrieval service
Initiative Type
Model of Care
Status
Deliver
Added
26 August 2021
Last updated
26 August 2021
Summary
Key dates
Mar 2020
Dec 2020
Implementation sites
All Sunshine Coast HHS hospitals
Partnerships
All Sunshine Coast HHS hospitals
Aim
The SCHHS Retrieval Services aims to prioritise and safely facilitate the transfer of critical care adult patients from SCHHS peripheral hospitals to SCUH (predominantly ICU) where capacity is centralised.
Benefits
- Improve district expertise with staff members from multiple emergency departments (ED), strengthen a connected culture in district, create positive relationships between ED and retrieval service, provide expert critical care of patients during retrieval process. Training Day- 64 nursing and medical staff completed SCHHS wide.
- Five Retrieval Case Forums were held, SIM IHT education presented at Noosa and Maleny Hospitals.
- Nambour Hospital ED have adopted and adapted the Retrieval Service processes to be able to support their own critical care Inter-hospital Transfers, now meeting ANZCA and ACEM guidelines standards.
- Assistance was provided in reducing emergency length of stay for peripheral ED's by reducing wait time for Retrieval Services Queensland activation, especially at Gympie Hospital.
- Providing rapid tertiary level emergency support to Maleny hospital through activation of retrieval team.
Background
Sunshine Coast HHS has one of the largest numbers of inter-hospital transfers and critical retrievals in Queensland. At the beginning of the pandemic Retrieval Services Queensland asked the hospitals to increase their capacity to perform their own critical care transfers.