Symptom Management and Referral Team (SMART) Clinic

The SMART (standing for “Symptom Management and Referral Team”) Clinic is a partnership between the Western Health Palliative Care and Pharmacy Teams and Mercy Palliative Care. It is a multidisciplinary Palliative Care outpatient clinic for patients who require specialist input for management of symptoms. The aim is to encourage early referral to Community Palliative Care and remove as many barriers as possible to a Palliative Care referral.

The clinic operates at two campuses:

1. Footscray campus (Wednesday morning):
2. Sunshine campus (Monday morning and Thursday morning). 

The team includes:

• Palliative Care Physician
• Medical Oncologist
• Nurse (Mercy Community Palliative Care)
• Pharmacist

​Palliative Care Physicians

• Dr Maria Coperchini (Mon and Th)
• Dr Adrian Dabscheck
• Dr Ruwani Mendis
• Dr Umbreen Qazi (Weds)
   

Medical Oncologists

• Dr Sally Greenberg

   

​Nurse

• Provided by Mercy Palliative Care

   

Pharmacist

• Daniel Grabak (Sunshine)
• Rotating Pharmacist (Footscray)

 
Allied Health

• A range of allied health professionals work as members of our team to provide additional support to patients. Click here for more information. 

Patients will need a referral from their GP or medical practitioner to attend a specialist clinic. Please bring;

• copies of any films or disks with images of any scans or tests, and
• any medications that you are currently on.

This will help our doctors see what tests you have already had and know how to help you best.

Referrers
Referrals should be addressed to either a named Medical Oncologist or Palliative Care Physician from the list above. Cancers are considered urgent referrals.

Referrals should be faxed to:

• Footscray SMART Fax (03) 8345 6856*.  Please refer here for information about referring a patient.
• Sunshine SMART Fax (03) 8395 9950.

*Note - Footscray SMART clinic is not a chronic pain clinic. Patients with chronic pain should be referred to the Sunshine Pain Medicine Clinic.