A new institute dedicated to improving emergency medical care for severely injured children will be established in New South Wales following recent high-profile trauma events in the state.
Based at the Sydney Children’s hospital in Randwick, the NSW Institute for Paediatric Trauma will bring together clinicians, researchers and specialists to deliver advanced training and simulations across the health system.
Expected to be operational within six months, the institute aims to prepare medical teams for complex paediatric trauma cases, from initial emergency treatment to long-term rehabilitation.
The NSW health minister, Ryan Park, said the initiative follows emergency responses to critical incidents in the state.
“The events that occurred at Bondi Beach and at Bondi Junction have forever left their mark on NSW,” Park said. “Seeing the way in which our frontline workers and clinicians responded to these events with such courage and professionalism was nothing short of remarkable.”
“We know we won’t always be able to prevent trauma events, but we can make sure we are ready to respond when children and families need us most.”
Medical experts stress that treating children requires distinct clinical approaches to treating adults.
Dr Guy Henry, co-director of trauma services at Randwick, said children’s bodies, injuries and clinical needs differ significantly from adult patients.
While adult trauma frequently involves assaults or motor vehicle accidents, paediatric admissions generally present distinct patterns, including internal organ injuries in adolescents taking physical risks, and a growing number of e-bike crashes.
“Burns is another issue with children, there’s a different pattern of burns in children compared to adults,” he said. “People need to be aware of the differences and need to know how to respond to those differences.”
Preparing for mass casualties
Henry, who attended to victims of the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbings in ۲۰۲۴ and the Bondi beach terror attack, said regular education and mass casualty simulations are essential for building response capabilities.
He cited the medical response to the ۲۰۱۷ Manchester Arena attack – where hospital staff had completed a mass casualty simulation six weeks before – as evidence of how practice improves outcomes during critical events.
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“Through education, including the use of simulation, we can make people more familiar with managing trauma, with something like a mass casualty that no one might have any experience with,” Henry said.
“We get people more familiar, a little bit more comfortable, and that will then make us improve on how we manage things.”
Training will initially be based at Randwick, with future plans to explore how the program can be expanded across regional NSW and into the ACT, which regularly transfers paediatric trauma cases to Sydney hospitals.
The institute also aims to extend education simulation training to pre-hospital first responders, including paramedics, firefighters, police and the State Emergency Service.
Beyond clinical care and injury prevention research, the institute will address the psychological toll on healthcare workers and affected families.
“It’s been identified that not only do we have the child that we have to manage, we have the families to manage, we also have our own staff to manage,” Henry said, noting that upskilling staff helps lessen the psychological trauma of critical events.
The institute will draw on expertise across the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network – including the children’s hospital at Westmead and the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service – and will complement the Agency for Clinical Innovation’s Institute of Trauma and Injury Management. Philanthropic support will be provided through the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation.
