Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Department and Chest Clinic
How we can help you
We diagnose and support people with respiratory and sleep problems.
Respiratory and Sleep Consultants or doctors in training who assess, treat and help you to manage your respiratory and/or sleep problems.
A team of nurses who specialise in tuberculosis education and screening.
Lung function laboratory staff, hospital scientists that perform lung function tests and other diagnostic tests.
Sleep technicians book and supervise sleep studies, provide education sessions on operating your breathing machine, download data, perform mask fittings and can help you if you have problems with your machine.
Health education officer offers counselling for smoking cessation, asthma education and also manages our clinical research trials.
Administration staff will help you make appointments, inform you about what will happen at the Respiratory and Sleep Department and help to answer any questions you may have about your appointment.
We work in partnership with your local family doctor (GP) and Pulmonary Rehabilitation programs.
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Clinic |
Attending Specialist |
Description of Clinic |
|
Respiratory and sleep clinic Monday 12.15pm |
Dr Elizabeth Brown, Respiratory and sleep physician, Head of Department |
Dr Brown's clinic includes both general respiratory and sleep medicine. Special interests include in pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung disease and severe asthma, non CPAP treatment of sleep disordered breathing. |
|
Respiratory and sleep disorders clinic Tuesday 9.00am |
Dr Chaminda Lewis, Respiratory and sleep physician |
Clinic includes both general respiratory and sleep with a special focus on non-invasive ventilation (NIV), spinal cord injury and neuromuscular diseases. Special interests in interstitial lung disease (ILD), pleural disease, endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), sleep medicine, NIV in complex patients with spinal injuries and neuromuscular disorders. |
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Chest Clinic (TB/Mycobacteria) Wednesday 8:30am |
Dr Milton Micallef |
The Chest Clinic provides specialist assessment, treatment and surveillance for patients with active tuberculosis (TB), latent TB infection (LTBI), and non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) disease. Our team works closely with the Public Health Unit, migration screening services, infectious diseases and microbiology colleagues, and community healthcare providers to deliver comprehensive, culturally sensitive, family-centred care. Services include contact tracing, migrant and healthcare-worker screening, management of complex TB and NTM disease, and long-term follow-up where required. We extend our care to children living within our catchment, including for TB screening and BCG vaccination. Families seeking BCG vaccination for travel should be aware that vaccination should occur at least three months before departure, thus referrals should be received well in advance. Our goal is to provide world-class TB care to the people of South Eastern Sydney while contributing to the World Health Organization's goal of TB elimination. All TB-related services are provided free of charge, excluding occupational screening requirements. Referral information: Referrals are made through the Chest Clinic nurses. All urgent referrals for suspected active TB must be made by telephone call. |
|
Respiratory and sleep clinic Thursday 1.00pm |
Dr Nicholas Murray, Respiratory and Sleep Physician. |
General respiratory and sleep medicine, interventional pneumonology including endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), interstitial lung disease, neuromuscular disease, cystic fibrosis and diving medicine. |
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Respiratory and sleep clinic Friday 9.00am |
Dr Paul Lilburn, |
Clinic includes both general respiratory and sleep medicine patients, however with a specific interest in patients requiring specialist bronchoscopic interventions for advanced lung diseases or lung cancer. |
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Respiratory clinic Thursday 9.00am |
Dr Paul Hamor Respiratory and Sleep Physician.
|
General respiratory and sleep medicine, with clinical interests in severe asthma, auto-immune mediated interstitial lung diseases, multimodal treatment of OSA and neuromuscular respiratory failure.
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Lung function laboratory Monday to Friday 8.30am - 3.00pm |
Lung function laboratory staff |
Offers a range of lung function and exercise tests for both inpatients and outpatients. This includes; skin allergy testing, investigation for home oxygen, fitness to fly tests and saline challenge tests used for diagnosing asthma and suitability for scuba diving. |
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Nurses clinic Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8.30am |
Nurses |
Our nurses clinic provides TB screening (TST/Mantoux), including screening for immigration, TB education and BCG vaccinations. |
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Sleep laboratory Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm, plus overnight stays |
Sleep laboratory staff |
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Bronchoscopy service Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 8.30am |
Respiratory staff specialists |
Performs standard flexible and rigid bronchoscopy, linear (convex probe) and radial mini-probe endobronchochial ultrasound (EBUS), pleural procedures for both inpatients and outpatients including thoracocentesis, intercostal catheter insertion and tunnelled "in dwelling" pleural catheters eg. PleuraX catheters. Advanced bronchoscopic procedures such as central airway recanalisation through mechanical rigid bronchoscopy, diathermy, Argon Plasma Coagulation (APC), Cryotherapy and Cyrosection, Snare electrocautery, airway stent insertion, transbronchical cryobiopsy, and medstinal lymph node cyrobiopsy. These procedures usually require referral from a Respiratory specialist. |
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Smoking cessation Asthma education Monday - Thursday 9.00am -5.00pm |
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Provides individual counselling service to help patients and staff to quit smoking. Offers outpatient asthma education. |
To attend one of our clinics you will need a referral letter from your local general practitioner (GP) explaining your medical history, relevant test results, X-ray results and what medicines you are currently taking. Your GP can refer you directly for a home sleep study by providing a STOP BANG and Epworth Sleepiness Score in your referral.
Ask your GP to complete this referral electronically via Healthlink. See this webpage for further information around electronic referrals.
Once we have received your referral, we will send you and your GP a letter with appointment details. If we cannot make an appointment for you, we will send you a letter confirming that you are on the outpatient waiting list for the next available appointment.
If you need to change or cancel your appointment or no longer require an appointment, please contact 02 9382 4631 or 02 9382 4643.
- Our medical clinics and lung function clinics are covered by Medicare.
- There is no charge for our weekly TB clinic.
- Tuberculosis screening for health care workers and students carries a fee of $75.00 payable at our cashier’s office.
Yes, we are always looking for patients who would be happy to participate in clinical trials. These often asses the effectiveness of new medication for asthma and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To find out more please contact us.
Doctor clinics
You may need to wait up to 9-12 months before you can see a Respiratory Consultant.
It is a busy centre and there could be delays when you arrive for your clinic appointment. Most people are seen within one to three hours.
Nurses Clinic
The waiting period for the nurse’s clinic is usually between 1 and 3 weeks.
Lung Function Clinic
The waiting period for the Lung Function clinic is usually between 1 and 3 weeks, but depends on the test you need. If you need a test urgently we usually will organise this to happen within a few days.
It is a busy department and there could be delays when you arrive for your clinic appointment. Most people are seen within one to three hours. We ask that you arrive at your scheduled appointment time to prevent waiting even longer.
You will see a nurse who will measure your weight, height, blood pressure, pulse and temperature.
You may also see a hospital scientist who may perform lung function testing.
- Your Medicare card
- Any relevant recent test results
- You are welcome to bring a support person (a relative, friend or carer) with you.
Please let us know if you need an interpreter before your appointment. You can contact us phoning the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) National on 131 450. Tell the operator what language you speak, and then ask the interpreter to set up a telephone conversation between you, an interpreter, and our service.
We are teaching hospital and you may be asked to be involved in research or for a student to be present at your appointment. You have a right to say no. If you do so, this will no impact in any way on the services we will provide.