About the Clinic

Our history

The UNSW Fatigue Clinic was established in 2007 and has successfully championed the strong links between scientific research and clinical service since that time, with a goal of delivering the best possible clinical benefits to patients and to guide research developments. The Clinic was established to operate on a non-profit basis with the running costs for the clinical services partially offset by Medicare reimbursements.

The goal of the treatment service (i.e. the Clinic Program) is to reduce the severity of symptoms and to improve day-to-day capacity for physical and cognitive (thinking) activities. The Program provides treatment for people affected by medically-unexplained fatigue conditions including CFS, PCF, PVFS, and PIFS.

The rationale for the Clinic Program at its inception was to combine the existing evidence-based interventions (i.e. treatments which had been shown to be consistently effective in randomised controlled trials across more than one centre) into a coordinated program, The key elements of this established evidence base were for graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). In addition, the design of the Program incorporated other elements of recommended best practice including: education about the illness and its natural history; activity pacing which is a critical precursor to GET; and standard management of common complicating issues such as disturbances in sleep-wake routine, anxiety and depression, and difficulties in coping with chronic illness.

The Clinic Program was designed to include each of these standardised interventions, but in an individually-tailored program (i.e. considering the relative priority for each intervention for each patient). The Program was systematically evaluated and found to be effective in reducing symptom severity and improving functional capacity¹. Importantly, in contrast to some concerns about the safety of GET, the individually-prescribed and carefully monitored exercise program has been shown not to trigger sustained worsening of symptoms.

Based on the mission of the UNSW Fatigue Clinic to develop improved treatments, the addition of an equivalent to GET targeting the commonly reported difficulties in concentration and memory was developed, piloted² and then formally evaluated and found to be effective³. This component of the Clinic Program has been termed cognitive exercise therapy (CET) and is now incorporated as part of the improved intervention.

Research studies conducted by members of the UNSW Fatigue Clinic in collaboration with cancer specialists at Prince of Wales Hospital, revealed that the illness characteristics and natural history of chronic fatigue occurring after cancer treatment was closely comparable to those of PIFS and CFS⁴,⁵ Accordingly, the team formally evaluated the benefits of the CBT/GET intervention for patients with post-cancer fatigue (PCF)⁶. This study revealed that the Clinic Program was also effective and safe for patients with PCF.

Our People

Professor Andrew Lloyd
Director

Ms Sarah Masters
Clinical Psychologist

Mrs Andrea Lloyd RN
Practice Manager Private Consulting rooms for Prof. Lloyd

Mr Jack Devonshire
Exercise Physiologist

Mrs Jennifer McBride
Exercise Physiologist

Testimonials