NETS

What NETS does

NETS (Newborn & paediatric Emergency Transport Service) is the statewide emergency retrieval service for NSW Health and a division of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. Founded in 1979 and headquartered at Bankstown Airport in Sydney, with satellite operations in Newcastle and Canberra, NETS provides 24/7 expert clinical advice, case coordination, on-site emergency stabilisation, and inter-hospital transport for critically ill newborns and children up to 16 years of age. The service is accessed by clinicians across NSW via a dedicated referral line (1300 362 500) and operates multidisciplinary retrieval teams comprising doctors, nurses (a 45-person nursing workforce), and emergency vehicle operators, using both helicopter and road ambulance transport with specialist equipment such as ECMO capability for high-acuity transfers.

The service's core technical differentiators are clinical rather than software-based: specialist retrieval teams, ECMO-supported long-distance transport, and the NETS Clinical Calculator — a decision support tool distributed to referring clinicians. Operational delivery is supported by a strategic partnership with Toll Ambulance Rescue for aircraft and emergency vehicle operators, and the service is tightly integrated with receiving paediatric facilities including The Children's Hospital at Westmead (and its Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care) and Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick. The service transports more than 1,000 premature babies each year and extends coverage across Aboriginal lands in NSW.

NETS is not a commercial enterprise. It is funded through NSW Health government healthcare budgets as part of the public healthcare system, with no direct cost to referring hospitals or patients. Its go-to-market is internal to the NSW public hospital network rather than commercial, relying on institutional referral channels and community engagement via its Facebook presence and Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation partnerships. As a public-sector entity, NETS has no external investors, shareholders, or disclosed revenue, and its continuity is tied to continued government appropriation rather than commercial sales.

Name

NETS

Legal name

Newborn & paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS)

Website

https://nets.org.au

Company type

Public

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Short description

NETS is the NSW Health statewide emergency transport service for critically ill newborns and children up to 16, providing 24/7 clinical advice, stabilisation, and helicopter or road ambulance retrieval from a base at Bankstown Airport with satellites in Newcastle and Canberra.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Emergency Medical Transport Services

NAICS

Ambulance Services (621910), Nonscheduled Air Transportation (4812)

SIC

Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Facility-Based Patient Transport (Hospitals, SNFs, Dialysis Centers) (TLAFAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Ambulance Fleet, Equipment & Logistics Services (HLAFANAN), Helicopter Medical Passenger Transport (Non-Emergency) (TLAFACAI)

Keywords

• Emergency medical transport
• Neonatal retrieval services
• Paediatric critical care
• Aeromedical transport
• Inter-hospital patient transfer

Headquarters

HQ city

Bankstown

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Government Healthcare Funding: NETS is a statewide service of NSW Health and part of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. As a public healthcare service, it is funded through government health budgets rather than commercial revenue generation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

NETS (Newborn & paediatric Emergency Transport Service) is a statewide NSW Health service that provides expert clinical advice, clinical coordination, emergency treatment and stabilisation, and inter-hospital transport for very sick or injured babies and children up to 16 years of age. Operating 24/7 from Bankstown Airport in Sydney with satellite services in Newcastle and Canberra, NETS dispatches multidisciplinary retrieval teams via helicopter and road ambulance equipped with specialist medical equipment, including ECMO support, to referring hospitals across New South Wales.

Product overview

NETS is a single, unified emergency medical transport service for newborns and paediatric patients. It offers a comprehensive referral service through a dedicated phone line (1300 362 500), clinical consultation via conference calls with NETS consultants, emergency treatment and stabilisation at referring hospitals, and transport coordination between facilities. The service includes a clinical calculator tool and a parent handbook. NETS operates as part of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network under NSW Health.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Newborn & paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS)

Quantifiable outcome

• Transports more than 1,000 premature babies each year
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Toll Ambulance RescuecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerToll Ambulance Rescue provides emergency vehicle operators and aircraft support for NETS helicopter transfers. The partnership enables rapid air transport of critically ill newborns and children across NSW, with coordinated operations including greenlight corridors and police escorts for urgent cases.
• Sydney Children's Hospitals NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNETS is an integral part of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, providing mobile emergency services that feed into the network's hospitals including The Children's Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick. This institutional relationship provides the specialist receiving facilities for transported patients.
• Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive CarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care at The Children's Hospital at Westmead is a key receiving facility for NETS patients. Many complex cases transferred by NETS continue their care journey at this centre, with some NETS doctors working across both services.
• Aeromedical Society of AustralasiaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerNETS staff participate in Aeromed25 and other aeromedical conferences, presenting research on paediatric trauma transport and exchanging knowledge with peers in the aeromedical transport field.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Angel MedFlight Worldwide Air Ambulance: US-based commercial air ambulance service specializing in long-distance medical transport including neonatal and paediatric cases. Comparable to NETS in fixed-wing medical retrieval and high-acuity patient transport, but operates commercially outside Australia.

Broad incumbents

• LifeFlight Australia: Australian community-funded aeromedical retrieval service operating helicopters and air ambulance jets across Queensland and nationally. Comparable to NETS in the air retrieval mechanism but broader in scope (all ages, trauma, inter-hospital) rather than specialized for paediatric/neonatal cases.
• CareFlight Australia: Australian aeromedical and retrieval service operating helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft across multiple states. Comparable to NETS in retrieval mission and helicopter transport capability, though CareFlight is broader (adult, paediatric, trauma) and not specialty-locked to neonatal/paediatric care.
• Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS): Australia's largest aeromedical organization providing inter-hospital patient transport across rural and remote areas. While not paediatric-specialized, RFDS is a broad incumbent in the same retrieval/transport space and sometimes handles paediatric cases where specialized teams are unavailable.

Direct peers

• MedSTAR Kids: South Australia's paediatric and neonatal retrieval service operated by SA Health. Directly comparable to NETS in mission and scope (inter-hospital emergency transport for newborns and children), serving as the equivalent statewide mandate within a different Australian jurisdiction.
• PIPER (Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrieval): Victoria's statewide neonatal and paediatric emergency retrieval service based at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Direct functional peer to NETS, providing the same hospital-to-hospital transport model for newborns and children across Victoria, with comparable retrieval team composition and 24/7 referral line.
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Critical Care Transport Team: One of the largest dedicated paediatric/neonatal critical care transport teams in the United States, providing ground and air retrieval with ECMO capability. Highly comparable to NETS in clinical scope, retrieval team composition, and high-acuity case mix including neonatal cardiac and ECMO transports.
• St. Louis Children's Hospital Transport Team: US paediatric specialty hospital transport service providing neonatal and paediatric retrieval across a multi-state catchment. Directly comparable to NETS in scope, team structure (retrieval doctor, nurse, EMT), and capability to handle ECMO and high-acuity neonatal transfers.
• Boston Children's Hospital Critical Care Transport Team: US paediatric specialty hospital transport team providing inter-hospital retrieval for newborns and children, including high-acuity and ECMO cases. Comparable to NETS as a specialist paediatric retrieval service anchored to a major children's hospital network.
• NETS WA (Western Australia Newborn Emergency Transport Service): Western Australia's newborn emergency transport service based at King Edward Memorial Hospital. Functions as the WA counterpart to NSW NETS, providing neonatal retrieval with similar clinical team model and statewide coverage mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/NETSNSW
• Xx.com/follow

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NETS