Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine

The Department of Anaesthesia, Pain and Perioperative Medicine provides you with a full range of anaesthesia, acute and chronic pain and perioperative assessment and management services. 

We have 25 operating theatres, 4 procedure rooms and additional anaesthetising locations. Our department comprises 80 plus staff anaesthetists, 4 provisional fellows, 35 registrars, 2 HMOS and one intern working across these sites. 

In addition, there are 5 Pain Management Nurse Specialists, a research nurse and 3 administrative support staff. 

Our senior staff are engaged in leadership positions within the Western Health service, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and the Victorian Anaesthesia Training Scheme (VATS).

We provide perioperative care to approximately 30,000 patients. 

This includes:

• pre-operative risk assessment (including cardio​-pulmonary exercise testing) and risk management
• intra-operative physiological and psychological protection and crisis management
• post-operative pain management and review.

We cover all surgical specialties apart from cardiac. We provide support for advanced interventional procedures in the cardiology and radiology departments. 

Our service at Sunshine Hospital deals with a large volume of paediatric surgery and has one of Victoria’s busiest obstetric services with over 7,000 deliveries per year.

We have expertise in pain medicine with 4 pain specialists and 3 nurses providing an acute and multidisciplinary chronic pain service, with outpatient clinics and regular interventional pain management lists.​

We operate under the Statewide Criteria for Chronic Pain Referrals which covers the following conditions:

• new persistent or chronic pain related to COVID-19 infection
• pain that requires complex medication management
• persistent or chronic neuropathic pain
• persistent or chronic pain in cancer survivors
• persistent or chronic post-surgical or post-traumatic pain
• persistent or chronic primary pain
• persistent or chronic secondary headache or orofacial pain
• persistent or chronic secondary musculoskeletal pain
• persistent or chronic visceral pain.

In addition to these criteria, you must be:

• suffering from persistent or chronic pain (three months or longer) with symptoms that impact on daily activities such as work, recreation, relationships, study, school or caring for others
• at risk of significant functional or psychological deterioration, or medication dependence
• willing to explore living well with pain and willing to learn to self-manage ongoing pain.

Health Professionals - referrals to this service