Respiratory medicine

Respiratory Medicine is a medical specialty that involves the care of patients with all forms of respiratory disease.

We provide inpatient and outpatient consultative and diagnostic services. Services we offer include:

• consultative advice and management for all respiratory conditions
• a full spectrum of lung function tests
• diagnostic tests such as bronchoscopy and pleural procedures.

If you have a respiratory problem, please see your GP who will assess, investigate and treat your condition and if necessary, can refer you to the Respiratory Outpatient Clinic.

In an emergency, please go to your nearest emergency department.

Specialist services

Patients can be referred for lung function tests without consultation if that is appropriate. Most patients referred for consultation will undergo lung function testing at the time of their appointment.

Our physicians have developed special interests which include respiratory infectious diseases, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections (including MAC), lung cancer, pleural diseases, research on aerosols and interventional bronchoscopy.

We have close links with radiologists who have a special interest in Respiratory Medicine.

RPH does not have a thoracic surgery service or services that treat lung cancer (medical or radiation oncology). However, RPH does provide a rapid access outpatient clinic service for suspected lung cancer and a multi-disciplinary team thoracic oncology meeting with well-established links to treating surgeons and physician in other institutions.

RPH has a regular multi-disciplinary team meeting for interstitial lung diseases.

RPH does not have an outpatient sleep service or a sleep study laboratory. Public patients being referred for sleep disordered breathing can be referred to Fiona Stanley Hospital, SJOG Midland, Sir Charles Gardner Hospital or Joondalup Health Campus.