Western Australian Toxicology Service Background

The Western Australian Toxicology Service (WATS) was established in 2001, and is recognised as a centre of excellence within Australasia.  WATS comprises six consultant Clinical Toxicologists, two Fellows and two registrars for a local population of 1.8 million people.  WATS manage a busy inpatient service across two tertiary hospitals (Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Royal Perth Hospital) with more than 5,000 admissions per year.  We have a close working relationship with the WA Poisons Information Centre, providing vital medical expertise for patient management and clinical governance of Toxicology services. We also provide a comprehensive telephone consultation service covering Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory. In addition to acute patient management and clinical advice, a consult service regarding chronic and occupational exposures is provided.

The Western Australian Toxicology Service (WATS) also provide undergraduate and postgraduate education for medical students, pharmacists, nurses, hospital doctors and general practitioners in Western Australia.  WATS clinicians provide toxicology and toxinology content and lectures to medical students through the two local medical schools, and provide training courses to general practitioners and advanced critical care providers throughout Australia and New Zealand.  Former and current members of WATS have authored and revised the Toxicology Handbook (Murray, L et al, 2nd edition, Elsevier, Sydney, 2011) recognised as an excellent practical resource to assist medical staff in the management of poisoned and envenomed patients and is the principal Australian clinical toxicology resource for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.  Chapter authorship regarding toxicology subjects has been provided for other emergency medicine resources. We are involved with national research projects, and have presented at national and international toxicology conferences.

Clinical Toxicologists

  • Dr Jason Armstrong (SCGH)
  • Dr Alan Gault (SCGH)
  • Dr Ovidiu Pascu (SCGH)
  • Dr Ioana Vlad (SCGH)
  • Dr Candice Hanson (SCGH)

  • Dr Kerry Hoggett (RPH)
  • Dr Mohan Raghavan (RPH)
  • Dr Julia George (RPH)

  • Dr Kirsty Skinner (FSH)
  • Dr Andrew Kozman (FSH)
  • Dr Ben Weber (AKDH)

Toxicology Fellows

  • Dr Tim Cook (SCGH)
  • Dr Julius Edwards (RPH)
  • Dr Owen McWilliam (RPH)

This service is accessible 24hours a day after discussion with The Western Australian Poisons Information Centre (WAPIC) Ph: 131126