One of the latest clinical offerings at St George Hospital has one simple purpose - to get people back to normal life.
The hospital recently launched a Movement Disorder Clinic, and one of its key treatments aims to help people with advanced Parkinson's disease.
The treatment, an intestinal gel called Levodopa-Carbidopa, was used on a patient successfully in early 2023.
St George is the first in the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District to offer the treatment.
It works by directly infusing the gel through a peg tube into a patient's small intestine for 16 hours each day. The tube is attached to a vest, which the patient wears, and is able to remain mobile during treatment.
Once the patient is comfortable with the procedure, they are discharged from hospital and they can manage the infusions themselves at home.
This replaces all other treatment, including having to take pills every two hours.
The clinic also treats patients with other illnesses including dystonia, tremor, hemifacial spasm and ataxia.
Movement Disorder Specialist and Neurologist Stephen Duma, says the aim is to improve the patient's quality of life by reducing their symptom fluctuations, and improving their overall function and independence.
"With Parkinson's disease, as the disease progresses it is often harder to manage the patient's symptoms," he said.
"Patients experience symptom fluctuations and have times where they are mobile and functioning well, but other times where they are very stiff and unable to move. The best way to stabilise these symptoms as the disease progresses is to provide a constant flow of medication, and this is best done through therapies such as the levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel infusion."
Engadine's Michael McGuire, 80, was the first patient to receive the treatment at St George Hospital. Mr McGuire, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's 14 years ago, started this new treatment in January.
He previously struggled with dyskinesias - involuntary, erratic movements, and towards the end of the day he experienced body stiffness, making it difficult to walk.
"Previously I have been on tablets and daily injections to control my symptoms but it wasn't working very well," he said.
"Since changing medications it's been quite good. We are still tweaking the dose to get it right for me now that I'm home and more active, it's a real fine balancing act.
"Previously my wife would carry a couple of pens of medication with us if we went out for the day in case I froze and couldn't move. I don't have that problem anymore."
GPs and specialists can refer their patients to the clinic for this specialised treatment.