Wards & departments
There are lots of different wards and departments at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and you and your child may need to visit more than one during your stay.
Our helpful volunteers are always on hand to help you find your way around the hospital – just visit the Information Desks and look out for their purple aprons!
Click on the areas below for more information:
Intensive Care Unit – Level 2, Surgical Building
The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Royal Children’s Hospital is run by a dedicated team of highly trained staff. The unit cares for over 400 children each year who are in a critical condition.
Every child brought to Intensive Care is individually monitored by a PICU nurse. A team of specialists are also on hand to provide expert medical care.
There is a parents lounge and a special room where families and RCH doctors can discuss their child’s progress in privacy.
Children are admitted to Intensive Care for many reasons, in particular:
- after a major operation e.g. a liver transplant, brain surgery
- for injuries from a severe accident e.g. burns, car accidents etc
- for severe medical conditions such as meningococcal septicaemia
- severe respiratory conditions
Once children are stabilised, they are normally transferred from Intensive Care to another ward in the hospital.
The Intensive Care Unit's Retrieval Service
A vital part of the Intensive Care Unit is the retrieval service, transporting kids from all over Queensland and northern New South Wales to the Royal Children’s Hospital for emergency treatment. The PICU retrieval team retrieved over 100 children last year – the vast majority being cases of severe bronchiolitis, head injuries and seizures.
Department of Emergency Medicine – Ground level, Surgical Building
Our emergency team specialises in paediatric emergency medicine and work as a team to deliver quality emergency care for newborn children to teenagers.
The Emergency Medicine department operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and delivers approximately 19,000 occasions of service annually services to children from Queensland, northern NSW, the Northern Territory and the Pacific Rim.
The department has a dedicated Triage area and waiting room, a three bed resuscitation room, a seven bed Acute Care area, three Specialty Procedure Rooms, three Consulting Rooms and a six bed 24-hour Short Stay Ward.
The primary function of this department is to assess a child's need for treatment and their initial stabilisation, followed by managing them as an ambulatory patient or admitting them to hospital as required.
Children present to the Emergency Department with a broad range of health problems. Patients are triaged according to the National Triage Scale (categories 1 – 5) with children being seen in order of priority of need (ie. the sickest are seen first).
Staff in this department form part of the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) for the Royal Children’s Hospital – in the event of a disaster or multiple major trauma within the Brisbane metropolitan district, the Department of Emergency Medicine is the focal point from which the hospital’s response is actioned and coordinated.
Medical Imaging Department for X-rays – Level 2, RCH Foundation Building
The Royal Children's has adopted a revolutionary way to take and store x-rays! Known as the "X-files" project to our young patients, instant images of x-rays are ‘beamed’ to computerised viewing stations all over the hospital. A first for Queensland, this futuristic technology is part of a digital Picture and Archive Communication System (PACS) installed at the Royal Children's Hospital in recent years.
Banksia Ward – Level 3, Woolworths Building
Banksia Unit is the Royal Children’s Hospital cancer ward, treating children with leukaemia and other forms of cancer, such as tumours and blood disorders like haemophilia.
Newly diagnosed patients and children receiving special treatments are admitted to Banksia ward, while many others are able to go home but continue to receive ongoing treatment and check-ups at the Banksia Day Unit, located further up the corridor.
Banksia Unit is home to Queensland’s only Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. Previously patients were required to travel to Sydney for this procedure, but fortunately they can now stay in Brisbane and be part of the transplant program here at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
‘Banksia’ Unit was named after the Banksia flower – the flower of hope. Banksia is the only plant that survives and thrives after the devastation of a bushfire, offering a symbol of hope to us all.
Robertson Ward & Cystic Fibrosis Unit – Level 4, Woolworths Building
Robertson Ward provides both Inpatient and Outpatient care, and treats children with a number of respiratory illnesses, especially flus and viruses during the winter months. General medical conditions admitted to this ward include asthma, pneumonia, epilepsy, bronchitis, and febrile convulsions.
Robertson Ward also contains a 6-8 bed Cystic Fibrosis Unit. Here the hospital tries to provide a familiar home environment where young patients with cystic fibrosis can feel relaxed and comfortable while they receive intensive antibiotic therapy and chest physiotherapy regularly throughout the year. As many of the CF patients are 'regulars' the hospital tries to keep them busy and entertained with the large playroom, exercise equipment and very own computer.
Paterson Ward – Level 2, Woolworths Building
Paterson Ward cares for children who suffer from various medical conditions, but the ward specialises in caring for children with infectious diseases. Patients are admitted with a range of general medical conditions like asthma and pneumonia; a range of infectious respiratory diseases such as croup and pertussis; and other illnesses such as gastroenteritis and chicken pox.
Children with cancer or blood disorders who contract infections will also be cared for in this ward.
Children with low immune systems can also be admitted to isolation rooms in Paterson Ward, to ensure they do not contract an infectious condition such as a respiratory virus.
McConnel Ward – Level 3, Surgical Building
McConnel Ward, is one of the Royal Children’s Hospital’s surgical wards. McConnel has 22 beds and specialises in Neurosurgical procedures, Orthopaedic procedures, Ophthalmological procedures and Rehabilitation.
McConnel ward was named after Mrs Mary McConnel, a determined and passionate woman who campaigned for the establishment of Queensland’s first hospital for sick kids in 1878 – the Royal Children’s!
SURF Ward – Level 4, Surgical Building
Surgical Ward, affectionately known as ‘SURF’, cares for children who require surgery, such as ear/nose/throat, cleft palate repair and maxilo-facial, and general paediatric surgery.
SURF also cares for children who are waiting on, or who have had transplants. The Royal Children’s Hospital is world-renowned for liver transplants, with many children travelling from interstate or overseas for a life-saving operation.
Our Paediatric Burns Unit, consisting of both inpatient and outpatient services, is also located in Surf Ward, treating children with burns injuries.
Burns Unit & Outpatients – Level 4, Surgical Building
The Burns team consists of a large and dedicated number of people involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of children who have received burn injuries. From doctors, nurses, music therapists, physiotherapists, surgeons, nutritionists and social workers – they all work together to achieve the best possible outcome for our patients.
The Burns Unit at the Royal Children’s consists of Inpatient and Outpatient facilities. After being discharged from the ward, children receive ongoing care and monitoring through Outpatient clinics, where the child’s injury/wound is treated and assessed to ensure minimal pain and scarring in later life.
Physiotherapy & Hydrotherapy Pool - Ground level, Surgical Building
The Physiotherapy Department provides a full physiotherapy service, including hydrotherapy pool for patients referred to the Royal Children’s after accidents, injuries or health conditions that inhibit their ability to walk or move.
The hydrotherapy pool has a ramp on one side to allow easy access for children in wheelchairs. The water is heated to a temperature most useful for therapeutic exercise, and staff carefully monitor temperature and chemical balance.
Physiotherapy is part of the Queensland Paediatric Rehabilitation Service (QPRS) at the Royal Children’s, which provides a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary rehabilitation service to more than 500 children a year. Many have serious injuries from motor vehicle accidents while others have disabilities caused by disease.
Qld Paediatric Rehabilitation Service (QPRS) & Gait Laboratory – Level 2, Coles Building
The Queensland Paediatric Rehabilitation Service (QPRS) provides a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary rehabilitation service to hundreds of children every year. Coming from all over Queensland and northern New South Wales, these children require therapy for neurological impairments, limb deficiency and acquired brain injury from motor vehicle accidents or other incidents, spinal cord dysfunction and orthopaedic conditions.
Our team of specialists run regular clinics including:-
Acquired Brain Injury Clinic: a service for children and teenagers who have sustained an acquired brain injury through illness or trauma.
Spinal Clinic: an integrated medical specialty service with allied health services for children with spinal cord injury and spina bifida. Representatives from the Association for People with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus also attend the clinic. Special clinics are held for older teenagers to assist in their transition to adult care, and are attended by medical and nursing staff of the Spinal Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Limb Deficiency Clinic: a multidisciplinary approach to the care of children with limb deficiencies or amputation.
Rehabilitation Clinic: children attending this clinic for assessment and management may have a range of underlying disabilities and rehabilitation needs.
Outreach Service: to ensure that local therapists and health care workers, school teachers and families are well prepared to maintain and assist children’s rehabilitation once they return home from the Royal Children’s to their own communities.
Hundreds of outreach activities are performed every year, including regional rehabilitation clinics, home and school visits, group programs and conferences using telepaediatric technology.
The outreach team attends clinics in regional centres such as Cairns, Hervey Bay, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and the Gold Coast. These clinics allow local service providers and QPRS therapists to work together, resulting in better communication, improved continuity of care for patients and enhanced rehabilitation services in local communities.
Leonard Lodge – located behind the Child Care Centre, off Bramston Terrace, Herston, Brisbane.
Leonard Lodge is a free accommodation facility where over 1,200 regional families stay each year while their children are being treated in hospital.
With 37 units, Leonard Lodge gives families a place to call home during a most difficult and often financially-challenging time.
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last updated 07-Jun-2007