The PICU provides intensive care services to critically ill infants, children and young people for Tasmania, Victoria and southern New South Wales.  RCH is the designated state-wide major trauma centre for paediatrics. The RCH delivers the state-wide paediatric, Infant and Perinatal Emergency retrieval (PIPER)service and is a National Funded Centre for paediatric heart transplantation, paediatric liver transplantation (in collaboration with Austin health), Norwood procedure and staged surgical palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome and paediatric lung transplant (in collaboration with Alfred health). PICU is a 24 hour service that operates 365 days a year.

The service provides care inside PICU:

• Specialist care for seriously ill, injured, or ventilated children
• Specialist care for children post cardiac surgery, cardiac & liver transplantation
• Specialist care for High Dependency patients unsuitable for the ward due to physiological instability, or dependence on specialist technology
• Extra-corporeal life support (ECLS) including Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and Ventricular Assist Devices (VAD)

The service also provides care and support outside the ICU:

• Medical Emergency Team (MET) for all inpatients at RCH
• Outreach Service for review of ward based patients following discharge from PICU, and any patient experiencing clinical deterioration where PICU assistance is requested, or any patient that may require PICU admission
• Paediatric, Infants and Perinatal Emergency Retrieval (PIPER)
• Clinical Technologist support to Home Ventilation, technology dependent children in RCH Wards, NICU and Emergency Department.