Palliative Care

Dr Allan Kirkpatrick

B.Med (Newcastle) M.Med Skin Cancer (University of Queensland) FRACGP

Allan was born and raised in Newcastle and after completing high school at Cardiff started work at BHP as a Metallurgy Trainee. After several career changes he was accepted into Newcastle University’s Medical School and graduated in 1990. He completed his internship and residency years in the local hospitals and entered general practice in mid-1992. He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in 1997. Just recently he completed a Master’s Degree in Skin Cancer.

Allan has always had a special interest in palliative care and has been a member of the Calvary Mater Palliative Care Team for over 20 years. He is available for admissions and consultations at Lake Macquarie Private Hospital and Warners Bay Private Hospital for symptom control and end of life care.

Allan is passionate about providing good palliative care to patients, believing that he is not just treating a patient but treating the entire family. He believes that relieving the patient’s pain and other symptoms relives distress from families during a period in their lives that is stressful enough! 

In addition to his work at Lake Macquarie Private and Warners Bay Private he is also pleased to see patients and their families in his surgery at Cardiff General Practice.

Dr Erica Cameron-Taylor

Dr Erica Cameron-Taylor is a Palliative Medicine Specialist

Dr Cameron-Taylor completed her medical degree at the University of Newcastle and completed rural General Practice training. She subsequently undertook advanced training in Palliative Medicine through the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

For the last four years she has worked as a staff specialist in the Department of Palliative Care at Calvary Mater and has a conjoint appointment at the University of Newcastle. Her particular interests include optimising a patient-centred transition from active to palliative treatment and she has been involved in several clinical trials completed through the PACCSC group. Her work in medical education has been presented at local and international meetings and she is currently team leader for the provision of online spaced education in End-of-Life-Care across the Hunter New England healthcare district.

Dr Cameron-Taylor is currently available for inpatient consults at Lake Macquarie Private, and runs a supportive oncology clinic for Hunter Cancer Centre outpatients, based at Genesis Cancer Care, Newcastle.