While there’s neither treatment nor cure currently for FA, it’s important for FA patients to maintain contact with a range of specialists who understand FA, can monitor their progression and give advice on different aspects of the condition.
A number of clinics are run each year and they enable bulk-billed patient visits (zero out of pocket costs to Australian Medicare card holders) with up to 10 specialists in the one clinic, and ensure those specialists get to confer and exchange relevant observations to accelerate and deepen everyone’s understanding. The invaluable information collected from patients has enabled important research developments into all areas of Friedreich Ataxia.
Brisbane followed from the ongoing success of a similar clinic in Melbourne which has been running since 2001, the first dedicated FA clinic in the world.
Both clinics provide a range of services, including access to a neurologist, geneticist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist. speech pathologist, echocardiographer, and referrals to related specialist services such as cardiology, rehabilitation, dietetics, ophthalmology, urology, respiratory and orthopaedics.
Brisbane Clinic
The adult Brisbane Friedreich Ataxia clinic is based at RBWH. Establishing and obtaining government support for the clinic was a huge effort and is largely due to the efforts of Mike Dwyer and the late Dr Kate Sinclair who campaigned heavily to make the clinic a reality.
To make an appointment to the Brisbane clinic:
Shay Upadhyay, Clinical Nurse Coordinator, FA Clinic, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
07 3646-2400
faclinic@health.qld.gov.au
Besides promoting the best possible quality of life, the clinic is vital in establishing a database of patient records, thus creating potential for drug trials to use Brisbane or Melbourne as their patient base.
Brisbane Clinic 2024 dates
Clinics will run on the following dates in 2024:
15th & 16th February
21st & 22nd March
18th & 19th April
16th & 17th May
20th & 21st June
18th & 19th July
19th & 20th September
17th & 18th October
21st & 22nd November
Places in each clinic are limited and it requires careful planning to synchronise a number of patients seeing different specialists, so if you’d like to be added to the Clinic, please get in touch (details above) and organise a referral as soon as possible.
The Clinic schedule for the full calendar year is already prepared but it’s hospital policy that they reconfirm appointments with each specialist before locking in each clinic and then confirm bookings with patients six weeks in advance. If you attended clinic before, you’re likely scheduled for about the same dates this year.
Melbourne Clinic
The Melbourne FA Clinic was the world’s first when it was established in 2001 and established a model that’s been copied throughout the world.
Clinics provide a range of services, including access to a neurologist, geneticist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist. speech pathologist, echocardiographer, and referrals to related specialist services as required such as cardiology, rehabilitation, dietetics, ophthalmology, urology, respiratory and orthopaedics.
To make an appointment to the Melbourne clinic:
Melbourne FA clinic contact: Dr Sarah Milne: sarah.milne@mcri.edu.au
Recently diagnosed individuals: Associate Professor Louise Corben: louise.corben@mcri.edu.au
Besides promoting the best possible quality of life, the clinic is vital in establishing a database of patient records, thus creating potential for drug trials to use Brisbane or Melbourne as their patient base. The Melbourne FA clinic is part of CCRN (Collaborative Clinical Research Network)