South Australia Spinal Cord Injury Services (SASCIS) at the Repat Health Precinct

The South Australian Spinal Cord Injury Service (SASCIS) is a state-wide service providing specialist rehabilitation services for South Australia. SASCIS provides services for adults who have sustained neurological impairment due to spinal cord injury (SCI) from both traumatic and non-traumatic causes.

Specialist services may be provided for patients beyond SA state borders where there is a lack of other options for patients:

  • Northern Territory
  • western New South Wales
  • north western Victoria

A consultative service is provided for paediatric spinal cord injury services.

The “hub” of SASCIS is located in the Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building at the Repat Health Precinct.

SASCIS provides acute injury management at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and specialist input to other hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient clinics at the Repat, centre and home based ambulatory rehabilitation, outreach services, and support to other services who work with people with a spinal cord injury.

Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit

Referral and admission

The SASCIS inpatient spinal rehab unit (SRU) provides specialist inpatient rehabilitation services for adults who have sustained neurological impairment due to spinal cord injury (SCI) from both traumatic and non-traumatic causes. Referrals to the inpatient unit are accepted from medical teams at other hospitals and rehabilitation units and from general practitioners. A SASCIS inpatient referral form (PDF 118KB) should be used for all referrals.

Referring health providers please refer to the admissions criteria for the unit Inpatient spinal injury unit: admissions criteria (DOC 180KB)

Rehabilitation in the spinal rehab unit

Address: Spinal Rehab Unit, Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building, Repat Health Precinct, 216 Daws Road, Daw Park South Australia 5041
Telephone: (08) 7326 1940

At Spinal Rehab Unit (SRU), people with a spinal cord injury work with a team of health professionals to continue their recovery and maximise their independence and abilities. The members of the rehab team include:

  • doctors
  • nurses
  • occupational therapists
  • physiotherapists
  • social workers
  • clinical psychologist
  • exercise physiology
  • physical educators

Rehabilitation programs are tailored to each individual. Rehabilitation is a collaborative process and patients on the unit are supported to actively participate in daily ward routines, therapy and education sessions, and other activities on site.

For more information about our service and inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation please take a look at the following resources:

Specialist outpatients

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Outpatient Department

Telephone: (08) 7326 1605
Fax: (08) 7117 5987

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building General Enquiries
Telephone: (08) 7326 1600

Our services

SASCIS provides a range of specialist medical and allied health outpatient services at the Repat Health Precinct, providing assessment, short-term intervention and review.

Who can use this service?

  • on discharge from Spinal RehabUnit, individuals with a new spinal cord injury will be provided information about on-going outpatient appointments. SASCIS clients will receive on-going medical reviews. Referral to other specialist clinics is on an assessed needs basis.
  • clients new to SASCIS, or those not seen by SASCIS for ≥12 months require a general practitioner or specialist referral.

Outreach

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building -  Outpatient Department
Telephone: (08) 7326 1605
Fax: (08) 7117 5987

Northern Territory Spinal Nurse
Telephone: (08) 8985 8157

Our services

SASCIS holds multi-disciplinary outreach clinics in Mt Gambier and Whyalla twice a year, attended by a rehabilitation physician, a spinal nurse and a spinal therapist.

Medical and nursing follow-up outpatient reviews are held at Noarlunga Hospital on a monthly basis. SASCIS rehabilitation physicians also provide regular outreach clinics to Alice Springs, Darwin and East Arnhem.

Who can use this service?

  • people who are current clients of SASCIS may access this service
  • clients new to SASCIS, or those not seen by SASCIS for ≥12 months require a general practitioner or specialist referral to the Hampstead outpatient department
  • current clients are sent notification of South Australian country clinics around 6 to 8 weeks prior to the clinic
  • clinicians from host health services may request assessments and are encouraged to attend appointments with their clients.
  • for access to Northern Territory outreach, contact the Northern Territory spinal nurse.

Spinal Outreach Rehabilitation Team

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building - Repat
Telephone: (08) 7326 1600

Our services

The Spinal Outreach Rehabilitation Team (SORT) provides goal-directed support to individuals to enable them to manage their new way of life after sustaining a spinal cord injury. SORT’s allied health and nursing staff provide home, centre and phone based services to support the transition from inpatient rehabilitation to community independence and participation. SORT provides specialist advice and consultation to other services and health professionals working with people with a new spinal cord injury.

Who can use this service?

  • people with a newly acquired spinal cord injury who have completed their inpatient rehabilitation at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre or Repat Health Precinct
  • SORT services are available for up to 1 year following an individual’s discharge
  • health professionals providing services to individuals with a newly acquired spinal cord injury may contact SORT for specialist advice and guidance

Research

The SA Spinal Cord Injury Services Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre (SASCIRC) is the research arm of the SASCIS clinical service and a subsidiary of the Centre for Orthopaedics and Trauma Research, University of South Australia. SASCIRC aims to improve spinal cord injury care and patient outcomes through knowledge and knowledge translation. Evidence-based research programmes bridge the continuum of the basic, translational and clinical sciences.

See the following sites for more information:

What you should know if you are considering participating in a clinical trial

The International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD) is an interdisciplinary research centre focused on spinal cord injury. ICORD has produced a guide that is intended to address some of the questions you may have concerning various therapies or treatments after spinal cord injuries. 

See the following for more information:

Educational resources

Useful links and resources

ParaQuad South Australia (PQSA) is a community organisation working with and for people affected by spinal cord injuries in South Australia. PQSA provides information, advice and referral for accommodation, peer support, counselling and advocacy, family support services and raises community awareness. SASCIS has a key partnership with PQSA to support the delivery of a range of services to people with spinal cord injury.

PQSA: 1800 063 419 or (08) 8355 3500.
PQSA Peer Support Advocates at the SRU: (08) 7326 1723 or (08) 7326 1724.

Sport, recreation and leisure

Disability employment services

Visit the Multiple Solutions website for more information.

Equipment, maintenance and repairs

  • Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre equipment
    Telephone: (08) 8222 1684.
  • Domiciliary Equipment Service or Disability SA equipment, Telephone: 1300 130 302.

For help with mental health and coping

In an urgent situation, contact SA Mental Health Triage (crisis) 13 14 65