The NSW Trauma app is a tool used by clinicians across NSW and beyond. Originally developed in 2015 by the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) (an agency of NSW Health) in partnership with another vendor, it provides quick access to critical information during patient assessments and inter-hospital transfers, including:

burn injury resources and an interactive calculator
detailed NSW health facility information
medical calculators, interactive checklists and clinical timestamps.

The ACI’s Institute of Trauma and Injury Management was looking for a partner to handle ongoing maintenance of the app and to replatform the server infrastructure using more modern, secure, cost-effective and reliable technologies. The server that feeds data to the app had also become a crucial source for another internal NSW Health service called the Information System for Trauma, Retrieval and Critical Care (iTRACC). Both systems contribute to positive outcomes when responding to severe injury and medical emergencies, so any transition needed to happen without downtime.

We’d previously worked with ACI to build the Eye Emergency Manual app, so they knew we were pragmatic, efficient, and reliable. They gave us a call.

The challenge

Downtime wasn’t an option. We needed to:

Replicate the existing server behaviour identically while using the latest software technologies and security standards.
Switch from the legacy server to the new one completely transparently with no app updates required.
Complete the transition within a tight timeline and government budget cycle.

The solution

We started by carefully analysing and documenting all the existing server behaviour — data structures, APIs and administration tools. This ensured we could replicate all the functionality precisely for a seamless changeover.

For data migration, we worked closely with the ACI team and the original vendor to fully understand each part of the system and how they fit together. We developed repeatable, incremental migration procedures that allowed the legacy infrastructure to remain in use and continue receiving updates right up until cutover, without any risk of data loss.

Once the real-world dataset was live on the new server, we redirected traffic from test versions of the mobile apps to confirm compatibility. This was the final confirmation needed to schedule the changeover and complete the handover.

The app kept working. The data stayed intact. And the NSW Trauma app now runs on modern infrastructure that’s more reliable, easier to maintain and follows the latest security standards.

Note: The NSW Trauma app has been developed to support clinicians; it does not replace clinical judgement or local clinical guidelines and is not a substitute for appropriate medical advice. This case study reflects the technical delivery of the app only.

You can learn more about the app on ACI’s website: aci.health.nsw.gov.au/networks/trauma/resources/app