A nurse treats a patient in the Emergency Department

Clinics & services

Kidney transplant

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Kidney transplant referrals

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The Kidney Transplant Service welcomes referrals from general practitioners and specialists for pre and post transplant assessment and care of renal transplant recipients and living donors.

Refer your patient

Doctors can refer their patient to this service in several ways:

Pre and post transplant assessment - contact us
Direct referrals - details are provided below

Refer to Kidney transplant team for a list of our physicians and surgeons.

Phone: 03 9496 5685

Kidney transplant workup clinic

This clinic is for individuals with advanced chronic kidney disease, or those already on dialysis, who require workup, assessment, education, and listing for kidney transplantation.

Address referrals to A/Prof John Whitlam.

Include any investigations performed to date, as well as other relevant correspondence.

Post kidney transplant clinic

This clinic provides holistic long-term care to recipients with a functioning kidney transplant.

Address referrals to A/Prof John Whitlam.

For transplant recipients transferring care from another health service, include a summary of the relevant transplant history and latest investigations with the referral.

Living kidney donor clinic

This clinic provides the following services:

Comprehensive medical and surgical assessment and education of living kidney donor candidates (people wishing to donate a kidney for transplantation)
Long-term post-transplant monitoring and care of kidney donors to ensure health and wellbeing

Address referrals to Dr Natasha Cook.

For new referrals from general practitioners, it is advised that donor candidates are first discussed with our living donor coordinator to ensure basic suitability prior to attending the clinic.

Fish stings (including stingrays)

There are many fish in Australian waters that have venomous spines. Penetration of the skin by these spines causes a wound that requires medical attention because of the risk of infection and to update tetanus immunisation.

The usual immediate symptom is severe pain. In some cases it can be severe enough to cause shock.

The most dangerous fish in this group is the stonefish, which is not found in Victorian waters.

Examples of stinging fish in Victoria include: catfish, chained scorpionfish, cobblerfish, flathead, the fortescue, the goblinfish, gurnard perch or gurnard scorpionfish, the old wife (zebra fish), rabbit fish, rat fish, the red rock cod and stingrays.

First aid

The best treatment for the severe pain is heat. The heat breaks down and inactivates the venom. Immerse the affected area in water that is hot enough to be effective but not hot enough to scald. It is best for someone other than the victim to test the water temperature. If no one else is present, the victim should test the temperature with a non-injured limb.
Keep the affected area immersed in hot water until the pain is relieved or has subsided. The hot water may need to be topped up to maintain the pain relief. If no relief is obtained after 30-90 minutes, seek medical attention for alternative pain relief.
Do not apply pressure/compression bandaging; this will increase the pain.
Seek medical assessment immediately for cleaning of the wound, tetanus immunisation, pain relief, if required, and therapy to prevent infection.