Children’s Hospital Emergency Transport Service

​As a tertiary referral centre with a full range of paediatric subspecialty services, we provide the Children's Hospital Emergency Transport Service (CHETS).

The CHETS team, equipped with a broad range of mobile intensive care unit (ICU) equipment, deals with acute critical care problems. They travel by road and air to the bedside of any child requiring their services, stabilise the patient's condition and then provide a safe, controlled transfer back to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

In transit too, the team is geared to provide a wide range of ICU services to ensure that the child arrives in the best possible condition.

The CHETS team, comprises neonatologists and paediatricians trained in critical care and medical retrievals, with dedicated nursing staff from the Neonatal and Children's Intensive Care Units.

CHETS has a dedicated paediatric mobile ICU for road retrievals, and is equipped to organise medical evacuations by air ambulance. CHETS also provides medical escorts to accompany a patient on a commercial flight.

As a tertiary referral service, the CHETS team co-ordinates closely with the child’s primary team of doctors to obtain vital information before activation.

Information for Healthcare Professionals

If you need to activate the CHETS team:

1. For emergency cases, please call +65 6394 1779 and to request to speak to the ICU registrar.
2. Please have the child's notes, parameters and laboratory results close at hand. The registrar or consultant will ask you for a detailed history. They may fax you a referral form to fill up and return via fax.
3. Several issues have to be cleared prior to the team being able to depart Singapore e.g. immigration, financial counselling and estimated stay in hospital. This requires extensive communication and may take some time, please bear with us.
4. Advise the parents to expect the team, and explain why transfer is needed.
5. Please advise the parents not to leave their child until they have met the team and signed a consent-for-transfer form.
6. Please keep us updated if the clinical situation changes.
7. Arrange for someone to meet the team and provide a hand-over of the clinical problems.
8. We would like to be able to give feedback on the progress and outcome of your patient. Please identify a primary point of contact in your team.