For all medical emergencies call 000
Medical emergencies
Medical emergencies: call 000.
If your child requires emergency treatment, please call 000 for an ambulance or drive to your closest hospital's Emergency Department.
When to call for help
Sometimes children with cancer will have symptoms that are warning signs of a serious condition. Your healthcare team considers these symptoms a sign of an emergency. An emergency means that you must take action right away.
Call 000
Some symptoms demand that you call 000 before you do anything else. These symptoms include:
- Your child is not breathing
- You cannot feel your child's heart beating
- Your child's skin and lips look blue
- Your child is having a seizure
- You cannot wake your child up (loss of consciousness)
Call the hospital immediately
Other symptoms require that you call the hospital right away. If your emergency is between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday, call the Oncology Clinic on 9845 2115. Any other time call Camperdown ward on 9845 1123.
These sympoms incude:
- Your child has a fever of 38 degrees celcius
- Your child is unwell with dizziness, shivering, shaking or chills
- Your child has difficulty breathing
- Your child has bleeding that does not stop within 5-10 minutes
- Your child does not respond to questions. Child is awake, but seems "out of it"
- Your child has a change in vision
- Your child has a severe headache
- Your child has vomiting or diarrhoea and is not able to drink fluids
- Your child has been exposed to chickenpox, shingles or measles
- Your child has a break in the central line
- You are worried about your child for any reason
Emergency services at The Children's Hospital at Westmead
The Children's Hospital at Westmead Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Hospital is located at the corner of Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead.
The Emergency Department is located inside the Main Entrance (in the Main building, level 2). There is no need to call first, just bring your child if they have an emergency problem. Children are seen in order of urgency.
Referral with the possibility of cancer
Referral of a child with the possible diagnosis of cancer and leukaemia should be via prompt contact with the oncologist on-call, available 24 hours per day by way of the Hospital switchboard on (02) 9845 0000.