Address

Tamworth Base Hospital Johnston St Tamworth

Telephone

(02) 6767 7700

Type of Unit

ICU / HDU/CCU/Burns

Unit Services

The Acute Care Unit is a combined Critical Care Unit servicing critically ill patients from all the Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD). Our unit currently consisting of 19 beds –7 Intensive Care, 6 Coronary Care, 4 High Dependency Unit and 2 interventional cardiology beds.

All of these beds have the capability of monitoring patients cardiac rhythm, blood pressure and other important patient parameters. 4 Telemetry units allow ambulant patients to have continuous heart monitoring. We have 7 ventilator machines also known as “life support”, and 2 non-invasive breathing machines to assist patients who have difficulty in their breathing.

We have 2 dialysis machines available for acutely ill patients whose kidneys fail to function. We have approximately 1500 admissions per year 50% of who are Cardiac patients. The unit cares for patients requiring ventilatory assistance for respiratory problems such as asthma and pneumonia and following major surgery or trauma. Other patients include those who have heart problems such as chest pain, heart attacks and abnormal heart rhythms, and patients with medical conditions that need close monitoring for a particular reason such as poisoning or infection.
Patients who require specialised care that we cannot provide such as cardiac surgery and neurosurgery will be transferred to a tertiary hospital as the need arises. Critically ill children who require ventilatory support will also be transferred if long term ventilation is required. Major burns are also transferred to a Specialised Tertiary Hospital.

Unit Staff

The Medical Director and other specialised Emergency Physicians who have Intensive Care training, lead our unit. One of these Doctors is present in the unit each day, and after hours can be reached by telephone. Specialised Visiting Medical Officers including Physicians and Surgeons are involved in these patients care.
They are supported by an ICU registrar or resident doctor for 24 hours day/ 7 days week.
The unit has a Nurse Manager and a Clinical Nurse Unit Manager, who are supported by 53 FTE nurses including 2 Clinical  Nurse Educators (CNE) and Data Collection Officer. A senior nurse is in charge on each shift after hours. The unit also has a Retrieval/MET Nurse Educator to provide invaluable skills and knowledge to the nursing staff.
Experienced nurses and specialised Doctors also form part of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Retrieval Service which provides care to critically ill patients in outlying hospitals within the HNELHD.

Visitor Services

• Location: The ACU is situated on level 1.
• Visiting Hours: 11am - 2pm and 4pm - 8pm, with a rest period from 2pm - 4pm.
• Waiting room: There are 2 waiting rooms for visitors. Visitors can access a small kitchenette with tea & coffee supplies in one waiting room outside the unit.
• Visitor Accommodation: On site there are rotary units which contain a small kitchenette, and in our visitors information package there are numerous accommodation facilities close to the hospital grounds.
• Support services (eg social worker/Pastoral Care): Pastoral Care is offerred on a needs basis, and can be accessed 24 hours per day. A social worker and Aboriginal Liason Officer is also available Monday to Friday.
• Hospital shop/Canteen: A kiosk is available for visitors in the main building at Tamworth Base Hospital, and there are local eateries within walking distance.
• ATM: An ATM is also situated near the kiosk.
• Phones: There are public phones situated around the hospital at various locations.
• Parking: There is onsite paid voucher parking.
• Hospital Patient Liaison

How To Get To Tamworth Base Hospital

A map of the hospitals's location is below. A more detailed map can be found at the Whereis Online WebSite.