New Tasmanian State-wide Adult Service
01/May/2006
After years of lobbying the State government, Cystic Fibrosis Tasmania are pleased to announce that finally a state-wide adult service has been implemented, meaning adults with CF living in Tasmania now have some sort of access to the health care professionals they require.
With Tasmanian adult CF numbers pushing over the 50 barrier for the first time ever, it has been a critical step in Tasmanian CF care to see this service implemented. The service was realised back on October 17th last year, when Jen Busch was employed in the role of state-wide co-ordinator of this service, and painstakingly worked out a strategic plan along with Dr David Reid to look at logistics and generally get the ball rolling. The Tasmanian Adult Cystic Fibrosis Unit (TACFU) team was fully appointed in January of this year, and since then has been working full steam ahead on the development of this state-wide service. The team positions are only part-time at this stage and consist of Physiotherapist: Nathan Ward; Clinical Nurse Specialist: Rowan Bridley; Dietitian: James Maclachlan; and Social Worker: Jane McDougall. Dr David Reid attends all the clinics and is based at the Royal Hobart Hospital and Dr Greg Haug attends the clinics in the north and is based at the Launceston General Hospital. Outreach clinics have already been held in the north and the north-west and the team has experienced a very warm welcome from the locals which is vital to keep their ongoing support. The team will be travelling to the north every month – the first Friday of every month to the Launceston General Hospital and then the last Monday and Tuesday of every second month to the North-West Regional Hospital. The team also hold clinics on Monday morning and Friday afternoons at the Royal Hobart Hospital. The team and the local health professionals in the three centres are working together to develop new education material and guidelines to improve the level of care provided to adults with Cystic Fibrosis. An adult specific newsletter is in the pipe line, and a few other ideas are being floated around for communication.
If you need to contact the team you can call (03) 6222 7556 or 0400 860 094 – there are message banks available on both of these lines.
