Lymphoedema services in regional Australia

I just did a quick search on the National Lymphoedema Practitioner Register #NLPR to see where people affected by lymphoedema have access therapist services. As expected people with the necessary training and skills are clustered in the metro areas and Melbourne and Sydney have over 50 therapists within a 100km radius of each city centre. Brisbane is not far behind with 48 Perth has 31. Everywhere else you will struggle to find more than a handful of therapists and even major centres like Canber

I just did a quick search on the National Lymphoedema Practitioner Register#NLPR to see where people affected by lymphoedema have access therapist services. As expected people with the necessary training and skills are clustered in the metro areas and Melbourne and Sydney have over 50 therapists within a 100km radius of each city centre.

Brisbane is not far behind with 48 Perth has 31. Everywhere else you will struggle to find more than a handful of therapists and even major centres like Canberra and Darwin have only 4 therapists, there are 7 each in Albury and Wagga Wagga. Many centres such Broome, Rockhampton and Whyalla returned no results at all.

A rough map of therapists able to deliver lymphoedema management services. The size of the circles represent therapists numbers rather than a geographical area, therefore the circle for Sydney is 13X larger than the circle for Canberra
A rough map of therapists able to deliver lymphoedema management services. The size of the circles represent therapists numbers rather than a geographical area, therefore the circle for Sydney is 13X larger than the circle for Canberra

I know there are many dedicated allied health professionals in regional areas. Often working in isolation, always the one who has to travel to keep upskilled. At Moving Lymph we'd like to find regional centres that can support the courses financially and enable us to deliver training in #MLD and #Lymph_Taping at least a little closer to some of these very dedicated therapists. And more importantly to increase the number of properly qualified #lymphoedema therapists available to the many people living in regional Australia who need their help.

If you live in #Regional_Australia and you think there would be enough interest in the #Vodder and #MTC_courses in your region, please complete our online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EOI_regional_courses

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Jan Douglass
Jan Douglass

Jan has been practicing and educating in manual body therapies since 1986. Specialising in MLD and Lymph Taping, she became an Accredited Practical Instructor with the Dr Vodder School in 2002 and a certified Lymph Taping Instructor in 2017. Her diverse background includes eight years as the senior lymphoedema therapist at Flinders Medical Centre Breast Oncology Clinic, and trial coordinator at Flinders University. With a PhD in lymphatic dysfunction, Jan has consulted internationally for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and co-founded the LKN Foundation Ltd in 2021 to support global lymphoedema management.

Read more articles by Jan

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