ECMO centres in Australia: a state-by-state overview

ECMO is a highly specialised therapy that requires significant infrastructure, multidisciplinary expertise, and sufficient case volume to maintain competency. In Australia, ECMO services are concentrated at major tertiary hospitals in each state, with coordinated retrieval networks extending access to regional and rural populations. This article provides an overview of ECMO provision across Australian states and territories.

New South Wales

NSW has the largest and most established ECMO network in Australia, coordinated through the NSW Extracorporeal Life Support (NSW ECLS) programme. Major adult ECMO centres include:

• Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA), Sydney: high-volume adult ECMO centre; coordinates adult retrieval
• St Vincent's Hospital Sydney: adult ECMO and ECPR; cardiac transplant centre
• Prince of Wales Hospital: ECMO capability

Paediatric ECMO is delivered through the Sydney Children's Hospital Network (Westmead and Randwick), including the Kids ECMO Retrieval Service (KERS).

Victoria

The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne is one of Australia's highest-volume ECMO centres and operates a 24/7 ECPR programme — one of the first in the southern hemisphere, established in 2012. Victoria's statewide ECMO network (VECMOS) was formalised in 2020, coordinating adult ECMO capacity across Victoria. The Royal Melbourne Hospital is a Tier 2 VECMOS centre. The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne provides paediatric ECMO including neonatal and cardiac ECMO.

Queensland

Adult ECMO is provided at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH) Brisbane — a quaternary cardiac and thoracic centre — and at Gold Coast University Hospital. Queensland Children's Hospital delivers paediatric and neonatal ECMO in Brisbane.

Western Australia

Fiona Stanley Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth provide adult ECMO. Perth Children's Hospital delivers paediatric ECMO.

South Australia

The Royal Adelaide Hospital is the primary adult ECMO centre in SA. The Women's and Children's Hospital Adelaide provides paediatric and neonatal ECMO.

ACT, Tasmania and Northern Territory

Canberra Hospital (ACT) has ECMO capability. ECMO is not routinely available in Tasmania or the NT; patients requiring ECMO are retrieved to mainland centres. Remote Australia relies entirely on the retrieval networks centred in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The role of retrieval networks

Because ECMO can only be safely delivered at a small number of centres, Australia's ECMO retrieval networks are essential to equitable access. These networks fly or drive ECMO teams to patients — rather than requiring unstable patients to be transported conventionally.

To learn more about the Lifemotion ECMO system — ARTG-listed and exclusively distributed across Australia and New Zealand by OHM Healthcare — visit us.

lifemotionecmo.com.au  |  ohmhealthcare.com.au

For healthcare professionals and general readers. Educational only — refer to your state's ECMO network for current referral pathways.