News

New Sleep Studies Unit at Nambour Selangor Private Hospital

Feb 01, 2010

A new Sleep Studies Unit will commence at Nambour Selangor Private Hospital in February 2010.

The unit has been established in recognition of the growing demand for quality, state of the art sleep medicine services on the Sunshine Coast.

The incidence of sleep disorders in our community is increasing significantly. This is due in part to an ageing population and the growing incidence of obesity. There is also greater awareness in society today of the impact of poor sleep on industrial and road safety as well as general health.

Dr John Feenstra and Dr Andrew Scott are co-directors of The Thoracic and Sleep Group (Qld) who are providing the service which is being developed along side Dr Rosemary Gan’s established home based service enabling the delivery of a comprehensive sleep medicine service.

The new service will incorporate a full laboratory based diagnostic and therapy sleep unit with allied scientific, nursing and technical staff at Nambour Selangor Private Hospital. The service also includes full medical management and review of all adult respiratory and sleep disorders.

Nambour Selangor CEO Shane Mitchell said the provision of the new unit will improve the accessibility for referring general practitioners and their patients to sleep services on the Sunshine Coast. It will also relieve many patients from the additional stress and costs involved in travelling to metropolitan centres to access this level of specialist care.

DR JOHN FEENSTRA

MBedSc(Hons), MBBS, FRACP, FCCP
Thoracic and Level 2 Sleep Physician

Dr John Feenstra graduated from the University of Queensland with an Honours degree in medical science & medicine. He completed his advanced training in thoracic and sleep medicine at The Royal Brisbane, Greenslopes, Princess Alexandra and Prince Charles Hospitals and was the Senior Thoracic Fellow at the Prince Charles Hospital. John was awarded his FRACP in Internal Medicine (2004), Thoracic & Level 1 Sleep Medicine (2005) and Level 2 Sleep Medicine (2006).

John is one of four Physicians in South East Queensland with Level 2 Sleep qualifications and is the only Level 2 Sleep Physician in full time private practice. He is actively involved in teaching as a Senior Lecturer of Medicine with the University of Queensland and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine with Bond University. John is also the academic lead in Medicine for Griffith University at the Wesley Hospital Clinical School in Brisbane and a Clinical Examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

John has been a visiting specialist to the Sunshine Coast for the past three years and regularly has clinics through Dr Rosemary Gan’s Rooms.

John’s areas of interest are obstructive sleep apnoea, complex sleep disordered breathing, non-invasive ventilation, pulmonary arterial hypertension and insomnia research.

DR ANDREW SCOTT

MBBS, BSc(Hons), FRACP, FRACP
Thoracic and Sleep Physician

Dr Andrew Scott is a Thoracic and Level 1 Sleep Physician. He did his advanced training at The Prince Charles Hospital and Royal Brisbane Hospital in Brisbane completing his FRACP training in 2000.

He has published in the areas of thoracic oncology, sleep medicine, transplant medicine, cystic fibrosis, autoimmune lung disorders and thoracic surgery. He worked as a Consultant Thoracic and Transplant Physician in Sydney and Cambridge, U.K. before returning to Brisbane in late 2003. Andrew has trained and practised extensively in the area of complex interventional bronchoscopy, including airway stenting and laser therapy.