NOT-FOR-PROFIT organisation 360 Medical has opened in Fremantle, offering long-term support for chronic disease sufferers.

“Our goal is to work collaboratively with GPs by providing holistic allied health services and chronic disease support,” clinical care nurse coordinator Kaila Saxe says.

The state-wide organisation has taken over the old 24-Hour GP service on South Terrace, just up from the now defunct emergency department.

The suite of rooms has a swag of programs with a nurse educator, dietician, physio, exercise physiologist, and podiatrist.

And it has access to a diabetes complex care clinic at the Cockburn office, “run by endocrinologist Dr Brett Sillars,” Ms Saxe says.

• Kaila Saxe

Dr Sillars oversees the same program offered by Fiona Stanley: “However the 360 wait list for the clinic is 1–2 weeks, whereas FSH is about 8–12 months.”

One in five Australians are affected by multiple chronic conditions and chronic diseases are the leading cause of illness, death and disability, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

They include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory conditions, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease and musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis and osteoporosis.

Many doctors are constrained by time with pressure to see more patients in shorter visits and they may not have time to spend identifying all of the factors that can impact on success in preventing or managing chronic conditions, Ms Saxe says.

“I really like to get to know a patient…you have to work on the whole person not just the problem,” Ms Saxe says. “At 360, we really want to help patients overcome barriers and improve their motivation for long term, healthy lifestyle changes.”

The organisation receives some government funding, along with grants, which means the fees are kept to a minimum because people shouldn’t have to make a choice between food on the table and medical help, Ms Saxe says: “We want to be affordable.”

For more information go to 360.org.au or call the Fremantle office on 6595 8800.

by JENNY D’ANGER