Urgent transfers

An urgent inter-hospital transfer is indicated if the patient has a time-sensitive clinical condition and the time to arrive at a hospital with the staff and facilities to provide definitive treatment is important but is not crucial to the patient's outcome. The transfer should occur as soon as is it is safe and feasible to do so, but the patient's condition is such that an immediate and time-critical transfer is not required.

Examples of clinical conditions requiring an Urgent inter-hospital transfer include, but are not limited to: 

• Stridor without signs of imminent airway obstruction.
• Airway obstruction when the patient's airway has been secured with an endotracheal tube.
• Abnormal breathing without significantly impaired oxygenation or ventilation.
• Patients that have been intubated and ventilated that do not have a clinical condition requiring an emergency transfer.
• Myocardial ischaemia where the patient does not have ST-elevation myocardial infarction but has ongoing clinically significant symptoms despite treatment.
• Shock where the patient is responsive to treatment.
• Suspected leaking abdominal aortic aneurism without signs of shock.
• Traumatic brain injury with a GCS of 10-14.
• Status epilepticus when the seizures have been controlled.
• Antepartum haemorrhage without signs of shock.
• Pregnancy-related emergencies without signs of foetal distress.
• Abdominal pain with signs of peritonitis.
• Compound fractures when the patient is expected to require urgent surgery.
• Fractures with significant displacement/malalignment expected to require urgent surgery.
• Dislocated joints when the joint remains dislocated.
• Severe sepsis where the patient has not responded to initial treatment.
  

An urgent transfer is a normal road speed response that is prioritised above other transfer requests (other than emergency transfers). 

St John will use best endeavours to service these requests as soon as possible after the transfer request has been made. Urgent Transfer Request must be requested as an inbound call to the Health Transport Operations Centre.

An urgent transfer request may result in other planned transfers being disrupted and or delayed.