More than 150 medical staff were called in on full alert to the Royal Hobart Hospital yesterday as wounded victims from the Port Arthur shooting were rushed in.
Chief executive officer Lindsay Pyne said last night that the injuries of the 18 wounded ranged from "very severe to minor" and included gunshot wounds.
He said the hospital activated its highest emergency disaster code -- Code Brown -- immediately [after] notification of the shooting came through [at] about 2:30pm.
It was the first time in at least 10 years that the hospital had gone to Code Brown.
Other hospitals in the area also went on alert in case the Royal needed to off-load less-critical patients.
Police sealed off roads in Hobart's central business district to make a clear passage for ambulances travelling from the Domain, where helicopters had landed with the critically injured.
Other ambulances carried the wounded from Port Arthur, while seven less-severely injured people arrived at the Royal in a Metro bus.
There were no children among the injured at the hospital, although at least one child is understood to have died.
The casualty entrance to the Royal was sealed off and groups of surgically gowned doctors and nurses were at the ready to wheel the injured from the ambulances and up to waiting theatres.
The hospital chaplains were called in and an area set aside in the hospital for relatives and friends of the dead and wounded.
A counselling centre has also been set up at Rokeby for the disaster victims and anyone directly affected by the disaster.
Mr Pyne couldn't give details of the wounded last nigh, saying some were still on the operating table.
None is believed to have died.
He said the hopital had coped very well with the disaster and the response from the community had been excellent, with people offering blood, food and accommodation to the authorities.
[image: "Code Brown: One of the wounded is taken by medical staff into Royal Hobart Hospital... injuries range from 'very sever to minor'." (19x11) ]