Australia’s first clinic for sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome has opened on Queensland’s Gold Coast. #qldpol
MILLIONS of chronic fatigue sufferers will benefit from a world-first clinic and smartphone app aimed at improving health outcomes.
The clinic, at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus, will work in conjunction with patients’ GPs.
The clinic will open in October at the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is highly debilitating, with profound fatigue, muscle and joint pain, impaired memory and concentration and balance disturbance.
It can continue for months or years and affects about 86,000 Queenslanders.
Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, who leads the NCNED, said the centre’s research was leading the way internationally to uncover causes of chronic fatigue.
“We now have the capacity, not only for advanced research but also the potential to provide a clinical service to people who have been unable to find appropriate care in the past,” she said.
“By working closely with clinicians and patients, researchers will learn more about the condition with the aim of translating what we find into identifying effective treatment interventions.”
The centre has also launched the app CliniHelp to help sufferers track their symptoms on a weekly basis.
Patients will be able to monitor any changes in their condition and share the information with their doctor.
“A major advantage of CliniHelp is it will allow physicians to be more informed of their patients’ symptoms when cognition can be a major impediment for patients with CFS,” Prof Marshall-Gradisnik said.
Science Minister Ian Walker said the new clinic would help to revitalise frontline services for families.
“The condition can be crippling, with many people barely able to move, let alone go to work,” Mr Walker said.
“Unfortunately for the thousands of sufferers and those with the related myalgic encephalomyelitis, the condition carries a stigma that there’s nothing wrong with you, especially when your GP can’t find the cause.”
Mr Walker said the app would be vital in providing evidence of the actual symptoms and helping doctors monitor patients’ progress in real time.
“There’s no effective treatment for these conditions,” he said. “Clinicians work with patients on helping them manage their illness.”