Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Department

The Sutherland Hospital Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Department comprises of a team of medical, nursing, allied health and administrative staff who are dedicated to supporting people in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of acute and chronic respiratory and sleep problems including

  • Asthma and allergy
  • Pulmonary fibrosis
  • Sleep disordered breathing and obstructive sleep apnoea
  • Respiratory failure
  • Tuberculosis
  • Occupational dust diseases
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Lung cancer
  • Pulmonary Hypertension
  • Bronchiectasis
  • Pleural diseases

Our inpatient ward, Warada (meaning Waratah) is equipped to care for patients with airborne infectious diseases, and those requiring non-invasive ventilatory support (e.g. high flow nasal oxygen humidifiers) used for the treatment of severe respiratory failure.  

Our service also has a community focused “Respiratory Coordinated Care Program” (RCCP) providing care to very unwell inpatients in the home as well as ongoing support and supervision of chronic respiratory disease patients. 

We have a dedicated Respiratory Lung Function Laboratory performing outpatient lung function testing, skin allergen testing and functional assessments such as waking or exercise oximetry and breathing tests. 

Interventional pulmonology procedures are available for outpatient and inpatient bronchoscopy, Endobronchial Ultrasound Guided TransBronchial Biopsies (EBUS-TBNA), Medical Pleuroscopy and Bronchial Thermoplasty.  

Our service also provides outpatient clinics that cover General Respiratory Medicine, Pulmonary fibrosis, Chronic Respiratory Failure and General Sleep Medicine, Pleural diseases, Respiratory Supportive Care Program for breathlessness and severe chronic lung diseases.

 

GP electronic referrals only - we are no longer accepting faxed referrals for this clinic.

 

Specialist 

Clinical and Research Areas

Clinic Days 

Associate Professor Benjamin Kwan - 

Head of Department 

Pleural Disease Clinic Thursday 
Dr Con Archis, Senior Staff Specialist 

Sleep Medicine 

Respiratory Failure 

Tuesday PM 
Dr Andrew Ng, Senior Staff Specialist

Sleep Medicine 

Respiratory Failure

Tuesday PM 
Dr Vicky Chang, Staff Specialist 

General Respiratory 

Asthma Clinic 

Monday AM 
Dr Chin Goh, Staff Specialist  General Respiratory  Monday AM 
Dr Clarissa Susanto, Staff Specialist  General Respiratory/ ILD Fortnightly  Tuesday AM 
Dr Adelle Jee, Staff Specialist 

ILD Fortnightly 

General Respiratory 

Respiratory Failure 

Tuesday AM
Dr Teresa Louie, Honorary Medial Officer

 

 

 
Dr Corinna Pan, Honorary Medical Officer    
Dr James DiMichiel, Honorary Medical Officer     
Dr Michael Han, Honorary Medical Officer    
Dr Kang Lim, Honorary Medical Officer    

 

Clinic Name  Clinic Days  Time 
General Respiratory 

Monday 

Tuesday 

09.00-11.30
Respiratory Failure Tuesday  13.00-16.00
Sleep Clinic  Tuesday  13.00-16.00
Asthma Clinic  4th Monday of the Month  09.00-11.30
ILD  Tuesday  09.00-11.30

 

Patients residing in the Sutherland shire LGA with

  • General Respiratory
  •  Chronic Respiratory Failure
  • General Sleep conditions or who require Interventional bronchology procedures

The process for referring a patient is: 

  1. GP/referrer to send electronic referral. We are no longer accepting faxed referrals for this clinic.
  2. The referral will be checked to ensure it is valid. If not valid then extra information will be sourced from the referrer
  3. If valid, the referral will be triaged by clinic doctor
  4. Appointment made as per doctor’s recommendation
  5. Patient notified by confirmation letter as well as a text/call 1 week prior to appointment

For instruction on how to send an electronic referral, please click to see our resources here

A valid referral requires:

  1. Written by a medical practitioner in a private practice or an SMO
  2. Written to a named doctor within the clinic
  3. Signed and dated by referring practitioner and include their Provider Number and place of practice
  4. Include length of referral, unless it is a 12 month referral
  5. Patient to have signed financial consent form.

 

Research and the development of new treatments and model of care is a core focus of the Department and includes investigator driven trials and multi-centres randomised controlled trial (RCT) in

COPD, pleural diseases, Asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, respiratory supportive care, technology in medicine, smoking cessation

We are always looking for patients who would be happy to participate in clinical trials. Please contact Mr William Lin (insert email address hyperlink) if you are interested in participating.

 

A/Professor Ben Kwan
http://med.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-benjamin-kwan

Dr Andrew Ng
http://med.unsw.edu.au/people/mr-andrew-ng
https://sites.google.com/site/LucasInstitute/home
 
Dr Greg Katsoulotos
https://med.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-gregory-katsoulotos

Cancelling an Appointment

If you need to change or cancel your appointment please telephone 02 9540 7067

Is there a waiting list?

Yes

Waiting list details

All referrals are prioritised and allocated according to criteria.

If you hold a valid Medicare card the visit is Bulk Billed.

If you do not hold a Medicare card a fee will be charged on arrival, please contact the clinic for further information.

Please let us know if you need an interpreter. You can contact us telephoning the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) 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 us on 9540 7067

 

More Info