| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1979 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of New South Wales |
| Headquarters | Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia 33°55′25″S 150°58′54″E / 33.92361°S 150.98167°E |
| Key documents | |
| Website | www |
Intro
editNewborn & Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (abbreviated to NETS), is an agency of NSW Ambulance Service that provides transport services for critically ill newborn and paediatric patients in New South Wales.
Established in 1979 NETS provides interhospital transport services under the Ambulance Services Act, 1976 (NSW), NETS provides clinical care and health related transport services around 2000 times a year in New South Wales (NSW), utilising a number of various transport methods including fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and land vehicles.
History
editIn 1977 it was recognised that a large number of hospitals within the NSW Health network did not have the facilities and resources to provide treatment for critically ill infants and children. At the time only 10 hospitals in New South Wales had neonatal intensive care units and only 3 hospitals had paediatric intensive care units.
In 1979 NETS commenced operation, the service transported its' first critically ill patient from Taree to Sydney. Unfortunately, the patient later died of a serious heart condition. This was a prompt to place more emphasis on providing skilled advice from clinical clinicians to assist doctors provide better treatment and earlier referral.
In the early 1980s, while the need to move babies predominated, more and more children were being transported. However doctors were still using taxicabs as the most efficient way of reaching the child and equipment was basic and improvised.
1982 saw the transport of a tiny baby born to Australian parents in the USA and brought back to Australia. The technical challenges of achieving this task safely were to significantly improve the equipment used within Australia.
Neonatal intensive care units in John Hunter Hospital and Westmead Hospital also developed a capacity for neonatal transport at this time. As elsewhere, the units extended themselves to provide staff and equipment to outlying hospitals.
1985 marked the introduction of specialist nurses into emergency transport. No longer were doctors working without the nursing colleagues they depend on in the intensive care unit.
In 1989, Child Flight, the world's first dedicated helicopter was launched to support neonatal and paediatric transport teams in Sydney. The service permitted transport teams to much more rapidly travel to assist sick or injured patients. The helicopter permitted one to two babies to be carried in NETS life support equipment and at three times the speed of ground transport. Child Flight operated until 2013 when it was replaced by CareFlight as the air provider for NETS.
In 1994 it was decided to amalgamate all neonatal and paediatric transport programs in the state to one location and under one banner. This provided central coordination and fully dedicated teams to be made much more available. The 'new' NETS was established in October 1995 in the geographical Sydney and subsequently moved into a new purpose-built base with integrated road and air (helicopter) transport, clinical coordination and team facilities.
In 2007, NETS obtained the legislated status of an 'ambulance service', enabling the use of dedicated ambulances operated directly by the service.
In 2008, a satellite service for newborns was formalised in Canberra; serving the Australian Capital Territory and nearby hospitals in New South Wales.
A second satellite service in Newcastle was introduced in December 2008 with the launch of a dedicated NETS ambulance for neonatal transports in the Hunter region.
Fleet
editNETS utilises a number of vehicles in their operations, these range from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and specialist ambulances. These vehicles are owned and maintained by third-parties in almost all circumstances, these services are provided by New South Wales Ambulance and Toll Group.
| Category | Model | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed-Wing |  | |
| Helicopter | Agusta Westland AW139 |  |
| Road | Mercedes Benz Sprinter |  |