Palliative care services in Tasmania now have five conjoint senior medical specialist appointees located in the three major regional centres, and one fulltime non-conjoint position in Launceston (Dr David Saner).
They provide the specialist medical component of palliative care in the multidisciplinary teams based in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie, and all participate in undergraduate and postgraduate education, research, policy and service development.
The specialists have contributed to several events funded by the Commonwealth PEPA program, to provide education in the palliative approach. They also contribute to the annual state conference (TAHPC) and an annual national masterclass and retreat weekend for palliative care specialists held in Hobart every March.
The conjoint appointees have contributed to a substantial increase in the MBBS course input for end of life care, ethics and pain management. A new collaboration has been forged with General Practice in Hobart, with inputs in years 3,4 and 6.
PROFESSOR MICHAEL ASHBY
MD MRCP FRCR FRACP FAChPM FFPMANZCA
Professor of Palliative Care.
Professor Ashby has recently been appointed as Clinical Director and Chair of the Clinical Network for Palliative Care at DHHS. He also chairs the Clinical Ethics Committee at the Royal Hobart Hospital, and leads the Respecting Patient Choices program.
Publications (2008):
Goodchild CS, Nelson J, Cooke I, Ashby M, Jackson K. Combination therapy with Flupirtine and opioid: open-label case series in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with cancer. Pain Medicine 2008; 9: 939-949.
Ashby M, Mendelson D. Family carers: ethical and legal issues. In: Family carers in Palliative Care: a guide for health and social care professionals. Eds Hudson P, Payne S. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DR PAUL DUNNE AM
FRACGP, FAFPHM, FAChPM Grad Cert Health (Palliative Care) Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care
Dr Dunne has just relinquished his position as director after ten years of service. He is a board member and past Vice President of Palliative Care Australia. He has special interests in primary care, motor neurone disease and paediatric palliative care.
He spent part of his sabbatical working on the Tasmanian Adult Palliative Care Formulary.
DR GUY BANNINK
FAChPM. Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care
Dr Bannink has special interests in pain management and is developing an integrated pain education module for students in Hobart. He has assisted in the design of an audit tool to test the services in Tasmania against national standards. He also has interests in evidence-based medicine, database design and informatics.
DR DAVID WOODS
FCRARM FRACGP FAChPM - Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care
Dr Woods has special interests in evidence-based medicine and informatics. He sits on national groups such as the National Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) and Palliative Care Clinical Collaboration PaCCS, and has been successful in making Tasmania one of the sites for these groups’ projects.
His sabbatical leave in 2008 was spent at the University of Wollongong working with Professor Kathy Eagar’s research group.
DR ROBYN BROGAN
FAChPM - Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care
Dr Brogan has special interests in medical education, service development, care planning and chronic diseases management. She was a member of the expert group for the Therapeutic Guidelines Palliative Care version 2, 2005.
Dr Brogan has a substantial involvement in the Rural Clinical School in Burnie, and has developed reflective practice and holistic patient care learning. Her recent sabbatical leave included a focus on the Gold Standards Framework for improving palliative care in primary care settings in the UK.
Dr David Saner
FAChPM – Staff Specialist
Dr Saner has special interest in General Practice education and liaison, and oncology liaison.