Sutherland Supportive and Palliative Care Service
The Supportive and Palliative Care Service at The Sutherland Hospital offers a variety of clinics aimed at the management of complex symptoms associated with life-limiting illnesses and assistance with goals of care discussions.
In addition to medical management plans, management may also include nutrition, swallowing, communication, mobility, assessment for mobility aids or psychosocial support from Allied Health. The service is open to patients with a cancer diagnosis or end-stage non-cancer diagnoses. The Cardiac and Respiratory Supportive Care clinics can review patients at home if required.
Please note the Renal Supportive Care Clinic is run separately to the Supportive and Palliative Care Clinics listed here. Referral forms can be found on the St George Renal Service website.
Dr Camilla Chan (Monday – Thursday), TSH inpatient consults, Palliative Care Clinic and Supportive Care MDT Clinic
Dr Johnathan Man (Tuesday and Thursday), TSH inpatient consults, Respiratory Supportive Care
Dr Jessica Jones (Wednesday and Friday), TSH inpatient consults, Palliative Care Clinic
Dr Taching Tan (one day a week, variable), Cardiac Supportive Care
Tuesday 9 am – 1 pm: Respiratory Supportive Care (Dr Johnathan Man)
Tuesday 9:30 am – 1 pm: Palliative Care Clinic (Dr Camilla Chan)
Wednesday 9:30 am – 1 pm: Palliative Care Clinic (Dr Jessica Jones)
Thursday 9:30 – 1:30 pm: Supportive Care MDT Clinic (Dr Camilla Chan)
To be referred to Supportive and Palliative Care Services, a person must fulfil ALL of the following criteria:
- Must be over 18 years of age
- Must have a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness
- Must live within the Sutherland area
- Must have a medical referral from a GP or specialist involved in their care with a valid provider number
- The answer to the surprise question (below) is “NO”
- Would you be surprised if the patient died in the next 12 months?
- Must have at least one of the following general triggers:
- Complex and increasing symptom burden
- Persistent symptoms, despite optimal treatment of underlying condition(s)
- Deterioration in functional performance status and increased support needs
- Patient requires advance care planning
- Progressive weight loss of more than 10% dry body mass, in last 6 months
- Two or more unplanned acute admissions in the last 12 months
- Patient or family requesting supportive and/or palliative care input
Exclusion Criteria:
| Exclusion Criteria | Instead Consider |
|---|---|
| Actively dying | Refer patient to Calvary Community Palliative Care Team |
| Rapid deterioration, thought to be in the last 3 months of life | |
| Requiring high frequency of palliative nursing and medical support the in the community or unable to physically attend clinic | Refer patient to Calvary Community Palliative Care Team |
| Declining referral to Palliative Care | Flag with GP or primary referrer to readdress referral at a later stage |
| Patient has no primary or specialist care team to enact recommendations or continue care on discharge from service | |
| Primarily Renal diagnosis | Refer to Renal Supportive Care team via SGH |
Please note that this service is not the appropriate service to assist with de novo NDIS applications, primary mental health diagnoses, complex behavioural, chronic pain management or general geriatric review. We are happy to support referrers in navigating to the correct service for people with these additional needs.
* If the referrer feels strongly that a patient has unmet needs and fulfils other inclusion criteria, further case discussion is suggested with the Medical Specialist / Clinical Nurse Consultant about the appropriateness of such a referral.
The process for referring a patient is:
- GP/referrer to send through referral via email.
- The referral will be checked to ensure it is valid, if not extra information will be sourced from the referrer;
- If valid the referral will be triaged by clinic doctor or care co-ordinator nurse;
- Appointment made as per doctor’s recommendation;
- Patient notified by phone call as well as a text/call 1 week prior to appointment.
PLEASE NOTE: A decision tree will be available on the website to explain the process to GPs and patients.
Access Referral Form Here (Services Include Respirator and Sleep, Infectious Diseases, Neurology, Rehabilitation, Paediatrics, Endocrinology, Gynaecology, Dermatology, Palliative Care)
A valid referral requires:
- Written by a medical practitioner in a private practice or an SMO;
- Written to a named Doctor within the clinic;
- Signed and dated by referring practitioner and include their Provider Number and place of practice;
- Include length of referral (indefinite preferred), unless it is a 12 month referral;
Patient to have signed financial consent form.
All referrals are prioritised and allocated according to criteria and clinical urgency
- Must be over 18 years of age
- Must have a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness
- Must live within the Sutherland area
- Must have a medical referral from a GP or specialist involved in their care with a valid provider number
- The answer to the surprise question (below) is “NO”
- Would you be surprised if the patient died in the next 12 months?
- Must have at least one of the following general triggers:
- Complex and increasing symptom burden
- Persistent symptoms, despite optimal treatment of underlying condition(s)
- Deterioration in functional performance status and increased support needs
- Patient requires advance care planning
- Progressive weight loss of more than 10% dry body mass, in last 6 months
- Two or more unplanned acute admissions in the last 12 months
- Patient or family requesting supportive and/or palliative care input
Nil