Children’s Advice and Transport Coordination Hub (CATCH)
Why call us?
We are a 24-hour nurse-led service to assist you with the care of non-critical patients.
Call us for:
- access to specialist paediatric medical and nursing advice
- assistance with the inter-hospital transfer of non-critical patients into and out of Queensland Children’s Hospital.
Who do we help?
We are available to all medical, nursing and allied health staff working in metropolitan, regional, rural and remote areas of Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
We can also assist General Practitioners with referrals to the Emergency Department at Queensland Children’s Hospital. View QCH referral guidelines.
If CATCH isn’t the best service for your patient’s needs, we will quickly connect you to the best option.
For critically-ill children, follow your usual in-region pathways or contact Retrieval Services Queensland (RSQ) on 1300 799 127.
Unsure if your patient requires a critical inter-hospital transfer?
Make sure your contact number is supplied within the form. If you have not heard from a CATCH nurse within half an hour of submitting the form, please call CATCH on 13 CATCH (13 22 82).
If referring a patient from a non-Queensland Health facility contact CATCH directly.
Aeromedical non-critical patient transfer forms can be found in the Inter-hospital transfer tab of the Queensland Paediatric Emergency Care Escalation and Advice page.
If the patient is flying commercially and requires a nurse escort from Queensland Children’s Hospital, the Nursing Team need to complete the: CHQ Nurse Escort Form.
Useful guidelines
Queensland Health staff can access the following guidelines via the QH intranet:
- Queensland Children’s Hospital non-critical patient transport policy
- Interhospital Transfer Parent/Carer Checklist
- Direct Inpatient Unit (IPU) to IPU Inter Hospital Transfer at QCH
- Planned back transfer of patients from QCH to external Inpatient facilities
- Planned transition of NICU/SCN patients into QCH for ongoing management
- Planned transfer of Inpatients for Specialist Review, Procedure or Radiological Intervention at QCH from External Facilities
- Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) Insertion in Non-Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH)Inpatients
Paediatric emergency care resources are available online
Including: Guidelines and flowcharts, Resuscitation drug and equipment guide (CREDD), Resuscitation eLearning including CREDD education, Transport triage tool, Parent fact sheets and more.
Make sure your contact number is supplied within the form. If you have not heard from a CATCH nurse within half an hour of submitting the form, please call CATCH on 13 CATCH (13 22 82).
Useful links
- Nursing Handover Form (access via QH intranet)
- Nursing Transfer form (access via QH intranet)
- Transfer to your local hospital fact sheet
- PTSS site (access via QH intranet)
- PTSS form (access via QH intranet)
- Access the Inter-hospital Transfer and Retrieval Application
- aeromedical stepdown (access via QH intranet)
- commercial aeromedical transfers
If it is safe and clinically appropriate to care for the child at the referring hospital, the 24-hour nurse-led CATCH service will connect the referring clinician with appropriate advice. For children who require more intensive support, the Paediatric Critical Care Telehealth Ward Round (PCC THWR) offers a scheduled multidisciplinary virtual bedside consultation led by critical care specialists, nurses, and allied health professionals.
Useful documents
Queensland Health staff can also access the following documents via the QH intranet:
- PCC THWR Procedure (access via QH intranet)
- PCC THWR Work Instruction – Paediatric Critical Care Specialists providing triage and/or advice (access via QH intranet)
- PCC THWR Work Instruction – CHQ CATCH Clinical Nurse (access via QH intranet)
- PCC THWR Work Instruction – QCH Allied Health Professional (access via QH intranet)
