Spinal Cord Injury Service

Telephone: (02) 9845 2819
E-mail: maryw@chw.edu.au
Fax: (02) 9845 0685
Location: Children's Assessment Centre, Outpatients Building, level 3

Service:

As part of the Rehabilitation Department, the Spinal Cord Clinic offers a consultancy and management service for children and adolescents, from birth to school leaving, with acquired spinal cord pathology. This includes injuries sustained as the result of trauma or through disease such as transverse myelitis. (Children with Spina Bifida are seen in their own specialist clinic). The clinic aims to provide ongoing education for the child and their family to prevent and recognise problems before they arise. Some of these issues include bladder and bowel dysfunction, sensory impairment and autonomic abnormalities, weakness, scoliosis and neurosurgical problems.

Referral process:

Most children and adolescents are referred to the clinic after their acute inpatient stay. As an inpatient the child is offered an individual program to suit their level of need. This may include input from multidisciplinary team members - medical, nursing, occupational therapy, social worker, physiotherapy, speech pathology, dietetics, hospital school, play therapy, clinical psychology, neuropsychology. Where necessary referrals can be made to other relevant specialists in the hospital such as Urology, Orthopaedics, Neurosurgery and Neurology.

Outpatient referrals can be made from any professional or the family themselves. With the family's consent, information from those involved in the child's care is obtained, to assess suitability of the referral. Clinics are held as part of the Physical Disability Service on Monday afternoons and Tuesday mornings. Hospital therapists are available for consultation to the clinic and community therapists are also encouraged to attend with the child and their family. A comprehensive summary of the clinic assessment is sent to the family and with parental consent, to those involved in the child's management.

Follow up:

Families can choose to remain with the service for as long as their child or adolescent remains at school. This may only require an annual appointment in the clinic. Other families may benefit from regular phone contact and ongoing case management including school and home visits.

How to make an appointment:

Inpatient referrals are made to the Rehabilitation Registrar, page no. 6404

Outpatient referrals should be directed to the Clinical Nurse Consultant on (02) 9845 2815

Staff:

Dr Mary-Clare Waugh, Paediatric Rehabilitation Specialist
Lynn McCartney, Clinical Nurse Consultant
Rehabilitation Registrars