Kimberley patients to access specialist vascular care closer to home in regional first

Patients across the Kimberley are set to benefit from specialist vein and artery care closer to home, with consultant vascular surgeon Dr Olufemi Oshin launching the region’s first dedicated visiting vascular service in Broome.

Operating out of DNTL Code, Broome’s newly opened health and wellbeing hub, the Perth-based surgeon is set to visit the region four times a year.

The service aims to tackle severe circulatory diseases, which affect blood vessels and can lead to life-threatening blockages or non-healing wounds, directly in the community.

For Dr Oshin, the service is the culmination of a decade-long mission sparked by seeing a disproportionate number of regional patients arriving at Royal Perth Hospital with advanced, irreversible conditions.

“I’ve been involved with trying to get a service up in the Kimberley for almost 10 years now,” Dr Oshin said.

“When I came to Australia about 10 years ago, I saw a lot of the Aboriginal population and the health disparities and thought, ‘Why is this happening?’”

Traditionally, regional patients requiring vascular assessments faced gruelling multi-day road trips or expensive flights under the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme just for a consultation.

To eliminate this barrier, Dr Oshin’s visiting clinic will offer a “one-stop” model, providing clinical consultations, high-tech ultrasound imaging, and treatment plans in a single appointment.

“Patients would come in, they would get their imaging, they’d get a report, they’d get an opinion straight away, so none of this going to multiple places or having to wait,” he said.

Local GPs can refer patients directly to the visiting service.

Many common conditions, such as severe varicose veins, will now be treated on-site using minimally invasive, walk-in-walk-out procedures.

“It’s crazy to think that you could go to any number of vascular surgeons in Perth where you can go into the consulting room, have the surgery done, and go home the same day,” Dr Oshin said.

“So that’s what we’re bringing to Broome.”

DNTL Code specialist orthodontist Dr Gavin Brown said the practice was excited to host the service.

“Dr Stephanie, the owner of DNTL Code, is firmly committed to bringing specialist dentists and medical practitioners to Broome,” he said.

“This will not only benefit the local residents of Broome, but also the wider community.”

Dr Oshin said the service is expected to have a profound impact on local diabetes-related foot complications, which disproportionately lead to lower-limb amputations in remote northern WA.

“Part of my goal here is really about this concept of limb preservation, which is really ending avoidable amputations,” Dr Oshin said.

“The cornerstone of medicine is really about trust, and you build trust by actually showing up.”

Dr Oshin treated his first Broome patients in the town this week, with the region’s first local, minimally invasive vein procedure scheduled during his inaugural visit.