Sunshine Coast Health has launched a new specialist service for patients with blood clotting and bleeding disorders.
The haemostasis and thrombosis service will give patients access to specialised care closer to home.
Haematology director Professor Craig Wallington-Gates said the clinic will manage a range of conditions including haemophilia, disorders of platelets and bruising and bleeding issues.
It will also support patients with multiple deep vein thromboses or DVTs.
“People commonly develop this on airplanes in long haul travel, involving clots in the legs in the large veins, but it also can lead to pulmonary embolism or PE where the clots can travel or form in the lungs and cause life threatening emergencies,” Professor Wallington-Gates said.
He said uncomplicated or first-time clots are frequently managed by GPs, but recurrent clots may need attention from a haematologist, which is a specialist trained in blood disorders.
“So if they’ve had more than one clot, clots in unusual veins, or they’ve had a combination of bleeding and clotting problems – these are more difficult management issues and that’s where specialist haematology clinics play a very large role,” Professor Wallington-Gates said.
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Previously these severe cases may have been referred to specialists in Brisbane hospitals if they couldn’t access private specialists here on the Sunshine Coast.
Now public patients have a local pathway to tertiary-level care for clotting disorders.
“The non-cancer forms of haematology, such as these bleeding and clotting disorders, really do require specialist level care – particularly the more complicated cases,” Professor Wallington-Gates said.
Patients can access the service via referral from their GP or treating specialist.
“It’s often a shared care system with people’s GPs, which works very well,” he said.
Patients with very complex conditions will still be referred to dedicated sub-speciality centres in Brisbane.
“However, it’s really important that we provide as much care as we can close to patients’ homes so that they’re more connected with all of their health networks, family and other support systems that they have,” Professor Wallington-Gates said.
This is the latest development for Sunshine Coast Health’s Haematology department, which has recently undergone rapid growth, with the launch of local stem-cell transplants for blood cancer patients and expansion of specialist services to the Wide Bay region.
