South Australian Spinal Cord Injury Service (SASCIS)

The South Australian Spinal Cord Injury Service (SASCIS), located at the Repat Health Precinct, is a statewide service providing specialist rehabilitation services for South Australia. SASCIS provides services for adults who have sustained neurological impairment due to spinal cord injury from both traumatic and non-traumatic causes.

Services provided

SASCIS provides the following services:

Specialist services may also be provided to patients outside of South Australia where other options are limited, including in the Northern Territory, Western New South Wales and North Western Victoria.

Inpatient rehabilitation unit

The SASCIS inpatient spinal injury unit provides specialist inpatient rehabilitation services for adults who have sustained neurological impairment due to spinal cord injury from both traumatic and non-traumatic causes.

People with a spinal cord injury work with a team of health professionals, in an individually tailored rehabilitation program, to continue their recovery and maximise their independence and abilities.

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.

Referral information

Referrals to the inpatient unit are accepted from medical teams at other hospitals and rehabilitation units and from general practitioners using the SASCIS inpatient referral form (PDF 118KB).

See the admissions criteria (DOC 182KB) for the Inpatient spinal injury unit based at Repat Health Precinct.

Contact details

Phone: (08) 7326 1600

Repat Health Precinct
Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building
216 Daws Road, Daw Park, SA 5041

Further information

For more information about our service and inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation, see our pre-admission information (PDF 232KB).

Specialist outpatients

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

On discharge, 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 more than 12 months, require a general practitioner or specialist referral.

Contact details

Phone: (08) 7117 5233 or (08) 7117 5232
Fax: (08) 7117 5987

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Outpatients
Repat Health Precinct - Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building
216 Daws Road, Daw Park, SA 5041

Outreach 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.

People who are current clients of SASCIS may access this service.

Referral information

Clients new to SASCIS, or those not seen by SASCIS for more than 12 months, require a general practitioner or specialist referral to the SASCIS 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 on (08) 8985 8157.

Contact

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Outpatient Department

Phone: (08) 7117 5233
Fax: (08) 7117 5987

Northern Territory Spinal Nurse
Phone: (08) 8985 8157

Spinal Outreach Rehabilitation Team

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.

People with a newly acquired spinal cord injury who have completed their inpatient rehabilitation at Repat Health Precinct can access this service. SORT services are available following an individual’s discharge from the Spinal Rehabilitation Unit to help with transition to the community. Health professionals providing services to individuals with a newly acquired spinal cord injury may contact SORT for specialist advice and guidance.

Contact

Statewide Rehabilitation Services Building - Repat Health Precinct
Phone: (08) 7326 1600

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 SASCIS research activity, within Centre for Orthopaedic and Trauma Research for more information.

Clinical trials

If you are considering participating in a clinical trial, the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), an interdisciplinary research centre focused on spinal cord injury, 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 ICORD website for information on clinical trials.

Useful links and resources

Community based organisations

Sport, recreation and leisure

  • YMCA Recreation - many individual sports associations and clubs (for example sailing, swimming, tennis, cycling) also offer support or specific programs to assist people with disabilities to participate.

Employment services

Visit the Multiple Solutions website for more information.

Equipment maintenance and repairs

Mental health and coping

Educational resources