What is CHQRS
The Children’s Health Queensland Retrieval Service provides a specialist paediatric coordination and transport service for critically ill children and adolescents throughout Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Our process
Patients who are being considered for transfer between facilities and require a team escort (“retrieval”) are referred to Retrieval Services Queensland, where they are triaged.
If the case is critical, it is directed to CHQRS for coordination by a Paediatric Medical Coordinator (PMC) who provides medical advice and logistical recommendations. Based on this advice, the child or young person might stay where they are or be moved to another facility with an escort team.
If the child or young person requires a specialist paediatric escort team, CHQRS will transport the patient. Alternatively, the PMC may work alongside other services including LifeFlight and the Royal Flying Doctor Service to facilitate the transport.
Contact us
For general enquiries contact CHQRS@health.qld.gov.au
For education or clinical enquiries contact CHQRS_education@health.qld.gov.au
We don’t provide advice to parents or carers. If you need advice for your child talk to your GP or call 13 43 25 84 (13 HEALTH).
Non-critical patient transfers
For non-critical patient transfers, please contact the Children’s Advice and Transport Coordination Hub (CATCH).
Resources for health professionals
- Trauma transport triage tool [PDF 383.67 KB] – assess if your patient needs a non-critical or critical transfer (trauma)
- Medical transport triage tool [PDF 397.31 KB] – assess if your patient needs a non-critical or critical transfer (medical)
- QPEC – general paediatric-specific emergency advice and guidelines
- CREDD – emergency drug doses
- CIDD [PDF 1922.45 KB] – emergency drug infusion guidelines (for locations with DERS software)
- Paediatric sepsis pathway – guideline for managing patients with suspected sepsis
- Paediatric retrieval checklist [PDF 140.93 KB] – what to do while awaiting the retrieval team