AWH Emergency Departments operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Call 000 in an emergency. 

Emergency and Critical Care Services

From the moment you enter the facility, your wellbeing is our top priority. Our streamlined triage process ensures that you receive immediate attention from our skilled medical team.

Our dedicated team of doctors, nurses, and support staff are here around the clock to provide personalised care, tailored to your needs.  
We understand that being in the emergency department can often be a stressful experience, that is why we have prioritised communication and transparency every step of the way. 

Our team will keep you informed about your treatment plan, answer any questions you may have, and ensure that you feel safe and supported throughout your visit.  We are committed to providing high-quality, responsive care for our community. 

Domestic and Family Violence further support information can be found here 

Learn more about the new Albury ED

Trusted ED Alternatives

If you need urgent healthcare now, but it's not life-threatening, there are a range of urgent care services offering free help faster. 

Victorian Urgent Care Centres

   Donate Life 

At Albury Wodonga Health, we work closely with DonateLife to support and facilitate Organ and Tissue Donation for eligible donors. Led by a Clinical Nurse Consultant, a multidisciplinary team will provide a holistic approach to clinical and emotional support to all involved throughout the entire journey. 

 For more information on Organ & Tissue Donation, please click here DonateLife 

 

Frequently Asked Questions - Emergency Department (ED)

Emergency care is for critically ill and seriously unwell adults and children who need emergency care. 

You may need to go to ED for these severe or urgent conditions:

If you’re injured from an accident or other incident, you may also need to go to an ED. Some examples include:

If you are pregnant and experience an emergency, you can go to ED or call triple zero (000) and ask for an ambulance. If your concern is less urgent, contact your usual doctor, midwife, or maternity unit.


 For more information on why to visit an emergency department see what Health Direct say here.

When you first arrive, you will be seen by a triage nurse who assesses your immediate health needs and triage you according to your medical priority. This triage stage helps us categorise those at most immediate need, it is important to give as much information as possible about the reason for your visit to the emergency department.

More serious cases are given priority, even if they arrived after you, this may also include the young and the elderly but you will be treated in the shortest possible time.

  • Any letters or correspondence from your GP. to assist in determining you health status and urgency category at the time of your arrival. 
  • Medicare card.
  • Health Care and/or concession card (if you have one).
  • Medicines you need to take while you are here. 
  • List of medicines you are currently taking (or the boxes), including medicines you have bought without a prescription, such as herbal supplements and vitamins. 
  • Relevant x-ray films, scans, ultrasounds or any other test result or reports.
  • Private health insurance car (if you want to use it). 
  • Glasses, hearing aid, mobility frames. 

Most patients that visit the ED, will be discharged home. On discharge, you will be given advice about follow up care. this may include: 

  • Instructions sheet 
  • Drugs or prescriptions. 
  • Appointments or requests for further tests.
  • Outpatient appointment.
  • A letter for your local doctor.

It is important that you ask for any medical, WorkCover or Transport Accident Certificates or any other information before you leave. 

If you are worried about yourself or your loved one's condition while you are waiting to be seen, please talk to the triage nurse. 

Families, friends and loved ones play an important role in a patient’s recovery. 

To ensure you receive the best possible care, emergency staff may at times limit the number of visitors permitted. This may include requesting visitors to wait in designated areas during procedures. 

What we expect of you 

Violence and Aggression is not tolerated.  

Violence, swearing, verbal or physical threat or abuse towards other people and staff is not tolerated. We encourage all visitors to Emergency to report and concerning behaviours to our staff immediately, so that we can continue to provide care in a safe environment. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions - Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Yes. Visiting hours generally are 11am-1pm and 5pm – 8pm however, for the ICU can be limited at times depending on the patients in the unit.  At times you may be asked to leave for the privacy of other patients or for procedures.

Due to the complex and critical state of our patients, they are often susceptible to other infections. When visiting the ICU please follow hygiene rules such as, using the hand run at the front door on the way in and potentially wearing a mask. 

Yes, children are allowed to visit in the ICU, however due to the sometimes-confronting nature of the unit, it’s important to talk to the staff and the child about it.  

If the child decides they want to go into the ICU, it is important to prepare them for what they might see, including the machines, what they do and how the patient might look. We would also advise you to bring in something to occupy them during the visit. 

Sadly, to help keep your loved ones safe, no flowers or plants are to enter the critical care unit. These can harbor mold and other pathogens that cause infection and illness.


Please feel free to bring in family photos that can be on display. 

It is important for each family to nominate one person as the contact person, who will then be able to inform family and friends of the patient’s condition. All other family members and friends can contact the nominated spokesperson for updates on the patient’s condition. This allows us to focus on caring for your loved one, and ensures that your family get given the information that they need. 

The nurse looking after your loved one will be able to give you information on your loved one’s progress. Medical staff will endeavour to meet with you frequently – if you wish to meet with medical staff, please let your loved one’s nurse know. 

Our expansive footprint is supported by a range of clinicians and a contemporary model of care to suit. The multidisciplinary team across our service providing bedside care and organisation wide clinical support in the is made up of;

  • Doctors
  • Nurses

  • Nurse Practitioners
  • Administration support
  • Pharmacy
  • Social workers
  • Physiotherapists  
  • Occupational therapists
  • Speech therapists
  • Aged Services Emergency Team  
  • Drug and Alcohol Clinician
  • Mental Health Clinician
  • Aboriginal Liaison  
  • Emergency Department Assistants

  • Clinical Liaison Nurse

  • ICU ACCESS Nurse

Our clinical leadership team include ED & ICU Clinical Director & Deputy Directors, Nurse Unit Managers, Director of Emergency Medical Training, Clinical Nurse Educators and Clinical Nurse Consultants. Clinical operations are overseen by an Operations Manager and overarching business and corporate operations are overseen by a Director of Nursing and Medical Director as part of the Emergency & Critical Care Division.


The Albury Emergency Department is a busy department which caters to approximately 40,000 presentations annually including adults and paediatric patients of all specialties. We are the regional trauma centre for the NSW Catchment and Northeast Victoria and provide care and service to orthopaedic and ENT specialities.

In April 2024, the Albury completed and opened phase 1 of a major redevelopment which has seen a state-of-the-art expansion of service for the ED. At completion of Phase 2 in late 2024, the Albury ED will be comprised of 58 treatment spaces which will be supported by a contemporary model of care.

  • 2 Rapid Assessment Rooms
  • 3 dedicated sub-waiting rooms
  • 8 bed Fast Track zone
  • 16 bed acute zone
  • 4 bed paediatric zone (with additional flex capacity)
  • 4 bed resuscitation zone
  • 2 isolation rooms
  • 1 consult room for ENT/Ophthalmology
  • 1 consult room for gynaecology
  • 2 procedure rooms (including 1 for paediatrics)
  • 16 bed short stay unit
  • Future x-ray and CT scanning capacity delivered as ‘cold shell’
  • 3 ambulance bays, 4 ambulance parking and dedicated Police vehicle parking
  • Behavioural assessment room
  • 2 behavioural assessment consultation rooms, including secure outdoor area.   
  • Private family interview room


The Wodonga Emergency Department sees approximately 26,000 patients annually including adult and paediatric presentations across all specialities. Wodonga ED is the primary referral ED for Obstetric and Gynaecological presentations for the local area and provides the Medical Emergency response to the Wodonga Campus

The Wodonga ED is comprised of:  

  • 1 triage room

  • 1 resuscitation room

  • 1 behavioural assessment room  

  • 2 consult rooms  

  • 10 bed acute zone

  • 2 bed short stay unit



The ICU model of care encompasses Intensive Care, High Dependency and Coronary Care patient cohorts (inclusive of paediatric patients).

Our Unit provides care to approximately 700 critically ill patients annually and is available to support other health services as available through REACH and adult retrieval. The critical care service provides support to all inpatient units on each of the acute campuses with a comprehensive Clinical Liaison Service, Donate Life program and management of the remote cardiac monitoring service for the acute campuses.

You may be admitted to the ICU from multiple different areas. For example, from the Emergency Department or Operating Theatre, from another ward, or even from another hospital.  

When you are well enough to require less intensive monitoring and management, you will be transferred to a ward.  

We know that for some, leaving ICU can cause some anxiety, our team of Critical Care Clinical Liaison and Access Nurses will support a smooth transition to the ward environment and follow up with you regularly during this transition.




Located on the Wodonga Campus, the Close Observation Unit (COU) is a 6 bed ward, with a flexible and adaptable model of care including High acuity admission, short stay admission with expected hospital length of stay of less than 24hrs, or flow admission with an expected hospital length of stay of 24-48 hrs. All 6 bed spaces have central cardiac monitoring and COU also houses and manages 4 telemetry (remote cardiac monitoring) units used across the Wodonga Campus.