Welcome to the Endocrine and General Surgery Unit of Western Health (GES Unit), which provides a comprehensive endocrine surgery service to the people of the Western suburbs of Melbourne, and across Victorian regional areas. We are based at the Footscray Hospital, and we are the largest endocrine surgery unit in the west of Melbourne.
What is Endocrine Surgery?
Endocrine surgery refers to operations performed on one or more of the endocrine glands. The endocrine system is one of the control systems of the body. Endocrine glands release chemicals, called hormones, into the bloodstream, which travel to their target organs and cells. The hormones then result in a change in the activity of those cells.
Endocrine surgeons are surgeons with special expertise and training in operations on a number of the endocrine glands including the thyroid gland, the parathyroid glands, and the adrenal glands.
GES Endocrine Surgery Unit of Western Health
Our unit specialises in the surgical treatment of all the major areas of endocrine pathology in the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands. We have a very talented and dedicated team of surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and nursing staff, and we work closely with our medical colleagues in the Western Health Department of Endocrinology.
We also provide services in the surgery of the salivary glands, and perform diagnostic lymph node biopsies as part of the Haematology/Oncology team.
There are six specialised endocrine surgeons in the Unit, an Endocrine Surgery Fellow, along with a surgical registrar and two interns.
We see patients in a weekly outpatient clinic at the Footscray campus of Western Health, and all endocrine operations are performed in the operating theatres there. In addition, general surgical elective cases are performed at Footscray or Williamstown hospitals, and GES surgeons also form a part of the Footscray Hospital on-call surgical service for general surgical emergencies.
What surgery do we do?
Surgical operations are performed for thyroid nodules, goitres, thyrotoxicosis, Graves’ disease and thyroid cancers, for parathyroid tumours and diseases, and for adrenal gland tumours, using minimally invasive techniques or laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery.
All surgeons in the Unit use the intraoperative voice nerve monitor as standard for patients having thyroid surgery.
L to R: Laura Chin-Lenn, Jason Tan, Bill Fleming (Head of Unit), Siva Ravindran,
Jo Chionh and Alvin Cham
Contact Us
Feel free to make an appointment via your GP to see us in the outpatient clinic at Footscray Hospital, or you can see us in our private rooms as listed below (the latter may attract a fee at some practices).
Mr Bill Fleming (Head of Unit)
Endocrine & General Surgeon
Private consulting at East Melbourne, Footscray and Werribee
Appointments:
Mail: Epworth Freemasons Day Procedure Centre
Suite 112, 320 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne 3002
Tel: 03 9417 6634
Fax: 03 9415 7422
Web: www.endocrinesurgery.net.au
Mr Alvin Cham
Breast, Endocrine, General and Obesity Surgeon
Appointments:
Mail: Melbourne Northwest Surgical
198 Pascoe Vale Road, Moonee Ponds 3039
Tel: 03 9372 8228
Fax: 03 9923 6660
Web: www.mnws.com.au
Dr Laura Chin-Lenn
Endocrine, Breast & General Surgeon
Private consulting at Ascot Vale, East Melbourne and Parkville
Appointments:
Mail: 248 Ascot Vale Road, Ascot Vale 3032
Tel: 03 9078 2184
Web: www.laurachinlenn.com
Dr Joanne Chionh
Endocrine and Breast Surgeon
Private consulting at Bundoora and Box Hill
Appointments:
Mail: UniHill Specialist Centre
Suite 32, 240 Plenty Road, Bundoora 3083
Tel: 03 9466 7338
Fax: 03 9466 7330
Mr Jason S.C. Tan
Endocrine Surgeon
Appointments:
Mail: 113 Albert Street, East Melbourne 3002
Tel: 03 9418 8162
Fax: 03 9418 8317
Mr Siva Ravindran
Endocrine and General Surgeon
Private consulting at Dandenong, Pakenham, Warragul and Latrobe Regional Hospital
Appointments:
Mail: Silk Medical,
Unit 4, 118-120 David Street, Dandenong 3175
Tel: Dandenong 03 9791 7401, Latrobe Regional Hospital 03 5173 8111
Dr Tracey Lam
Endocrine and General Surgeon
Private consulting at Richmond and Heidelberg Heights
Appointments:
Mail: Suite 6.5, 89 Bridge Road, Richmond VIC 3021
Tel: 03 9429 1002
Fax: 03 8672 0771
Web: www.drtraceylam.com.au
