ST GEORGE Hospital now has a prostate cancer specialist nurse.
Janine Kennedy is a Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) nurse and is based at the Complex Prostate Cancer Clinic at the St George Cancer Care Centre. She provides individual support to men with complex and advanced prostate cancer from time of diagnosis to after treatment.
The clinic gives men with complex, reoccurring and late-stage prostate cancer access to various types of treatment under the one roof.
The PCFA prostate cancer specialist nurse program was established in 2012 with funding from the Movember Foundation. Last year's federal budget allocated $7 million to provide the specialist nurses at an extra 14 hospitals in Australia.
Urological surgeon David Malouf said the position would be funded at St George for three years,
St George Hospital is the only public hospital in NSW to provide brachytherapy and cryotherapy for prostate cancer.
Brachytherapy involves the implantation of radioactive seeds into the prostate gland to kill the cancer. Cryotherapy freezes the prostate tissue, causing it to die.
Ms Kennedy moved to Australia from the US two years ago. She said in the US there were specialist nurses for prostate, lung and breast cancers.
Details: Complex Prostate Cancer Clinic appointments number: 9113 3909.