Acute referral phone number

For paediatric intensive care referrals please call

red telephone

020 7188 5000

(24hr service)

This phone line is not for use by the general public


Referral process

  • As soon as a child is recognised to need intensive care the clinician in the local hospital should call South Thames Retrieval Service (STRS) on the acute referral phone line.
  • The phone call to STRS is answered on the Evelina PICU (please note the phone calls are recorded).  STRS recieves around 1100 referrals per year.
  • The referral details are taken by the STRS doctor or retrieval nurse practitioner. This initial conversation is extremely important and a lot of clinical information will be requested and documented on our referral form  (PDF 36Kb). 
  • The paediatric consultant on call for the referral district general hospital should be made aware of every child referred to the service and the outcome of the discussion. 
  • The STRS consultant will review the case information and decide:
  1. Is the retrieval necessary?
  2. How urgent is it ?
  3. What priority does this child take?
  4. What advice should be given regarding interventions by the doctors at the referral hospital while awaiting arrival of the retrieval team. 
  • We suggest you document the details of this conversation in the child's clinical notes.

Allocating a Paediatric Intensive Care (PICU) bed

  • If the retrieval is necessary, STRS will find a suitable PICU bed, dispatch the retrieval team and feedback this information to the referral hospital with an approximate time of arrival.
  • Neurosurgical emergencies are a special case where the speed of transfer to the neurosurgical centre is paramount and potentially life-saving. Here it may be quicker for the referral hospital to transfer the patient.

Feedback concerning this process on individual patients can be discussed with the appropriate STRS liaison consultant  |or using this feedback form| (PDF 135Kb)