Key features of the Victorian State Trauma System

  • Two adult and one paediatric hospital have been designated as MTS hospitals: The Alfred, the Royal Melbourne and the Royal Children’s Hospital. MTS hospitals have dedicated trauma teams comprising clinicians with a range of specialist expertise, to receive major trauma patients and manage the initial response6.
  • Statewide system organisation and management of major trauma response is coordinated through ARV and PIPER.
  • Triage and transfer protocols prescribe specific physiological and anatomical criteria, and how major trauma patients should be transferred across the trauma system7.
  • The Ministerial Advisory Committee, the State Trauma Committee and its subcommittees oversee the VSTS and provide advice on policy development, funding, system performance and quality management, comprehensive governance model.
  • The Victorian State Trauma Registry was established in 2001 to monitor the effectiveness of the VSTS. The Registry is funded by the department and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC). Trauma data is collected for the 140 hospitals and healthcare facilities that can manage major trauma patients in Victoria. The Registry collects data to assess trends in patient characteristics, management and outcomes. Reports based on VSTR data are published annually.
  • The trauma advice and referral telephone line is coordinated by ARV and provides clinical support and advice to clinicians managing major trauma patients. It also coordinates the referral and transfer of patients to the MTS hospitals.
  • The Trauma Case Review Group (CRG) provides advice on transfer policy, analysis and best practice management of major trauma patients. The focus of the CRG is to improve the quality of major trauma care by reviewing major trauma cases that fall outside of the Victorian major trauma guidelines and where the patient journey is not considered optimal. The CRG process is now an embedded feature of the VSTS that aims to improve compliance with major trauma guidelines through review and feedback to health services.