General internal medicine
Where to find this service
General internal medicine is a key part of acute medical care at Western Health. Our teams manage patients with multiple or complex conditions across the emergency department, inpatient wards and ambulatory care settings.
We provide integrated medical care across specialties and are often the first point of contact for undifferentiated or multisystem illness.
What we do
Our general physicians care for patients with:
- complex, multisystem medical conditions
- undiagnosed symptoms needing investigation
- multiple chronic illnesses or frailty
- conditions requiring multidisciplinary care
- general medicine conditions admitted through the emergency department.
We work closely with hospital specialists, allied health professionals and community care providers to ensure coordinated, high-quality care.
Where services are provided
General internal medicine operates across:
- Sunshine Hospital
- Footscray Hospital
- Williamstown Hospital.
Care is provided in emergency units, acute wards, short-stay units and ambulatory medical clinics.
Subspecialty care and collaboration
General internal medicine teams often coordinate care across a range of hospital services, including:
- cardiology
- respiratory
- neurology
- endocrinology
- infectious diseases
- gastroenterology
- renal medicine.
We provide services to other units and support safe discharge and follow-up planning.
Research and training
General internal medicine plays a major role in clinical teaching, supervision and research at Western Health. We support the development of junior doctors, registrars and medical students through education, supervision and rotation placements.