Illawarra Sleep Medicine Centre - Wollongong, New South Wales

Emma W.

I was reluctant to go down the traditional path of a sleep doctor.

Our son has severe sleep apnoea and after researching that removing tonsils and adenoids was standard practice and mostly advised by the specialists, (which we now know for the most part is not the root cause of most cases and can cause allergy issues in adulthood) I didn't want to take that path.
We had already spent thousands at an orthodontist in Sydney after a pretty poor experience I was worried there was something I was missing so I persevered and was hopeful that this would help us with working towards a solution.

After multiple appointments with Dr Terry Sands I can affirm this is not somewhere to take your child if you want any results.

Our first appointment I was told that airway dentistry and orthodontists/myofunctional therapists were nothing but "Snake Oil Merchants" and I was made to feel silly for wasting my money going to them.

After I questioned him about the findings and research I had done regarding the removal of tonsil and adenoids in kids, he agreed that yes removing tonsils and adenoids can cause problems and are not the solution in some cases and the mouth will always revert to type.

I expressed to him that my observations could see that he had a really small jaw and couldn't close his teeth fully and that may be a reason for his sleep apnoea

He pretty much told me he wrote the book on paediatric sleep medicine and that I was wrong. This was in between him completely blanking out several times and losing his train of thought, with continued moments of silence.

He suggested a sleep study to assess him which I said ok to, when I asked him what else we will discover as we already know he has sleep apnoea he disregarded me and said we need to do it anyway.
After the sleep study, a follow up appointment was booked which took a while to get as they were busy.

At the second appointment he was around 90 min late and I had to go to work so my partner stayed to take it. It lasted approx 10 min and nothing that we didn't already know was discussed.

He offered a referral to the ENT, when questioned what that will achieve he said they will asses his tonsils and adenoids.. My partner said that we were pretty sure it was something to do with his small jaw which he dismissed again.

It's a year on and I am still waiting for the report from the sleep study which I have requested several times.
The reason for writing this now is because I have asked again today for the report, they sent me a request consent form to fill out so they can release it!!!
This level of service for something that is not cheap is absolutely dismal.
So here we are 2 years on from when I started trying to get a solution for my son's severe sleep apnoea and only after doing my own research I have found that in fact he has a vaulted palate and we have now seen an orthodontist in Wollongong that has given us a way forward to try and rectify it.
I will say the front desk staff have been professional and absolutely lovely to deal with.
If you are a parent that needs answers for your child and wants to advocate for their health, strongly recommend going to another clinic.

Dianne S.

Made an appointment as my GP, Sleep Therapist (not at ISMC) and Transport NSW advised I need to have severe sleep apnoea put on my licence, and needed a Specialist as well as my GP to complete an online form. One Specialist had more than a 12 month waiting list, so I chose the other Specialist. He was rude from the word go, told me I didn’t need anything on my licence re sleep apnoea unless I had a commercial licence. Gave him the letter from Transport NSW so he could read it himself. Only then did he agree to complete the form. I told him I had a Professor’s report from my home test, he told me that person is not a Professor, even though the report says he is. The Specialist needed to access my data from my CPAP which he didn’t know how to do as the machine has Bluetooth. He made a phone call to access my data via the serial number on the machine, which some of it he said was not accurate. For the latest machine and the amount I paid for it, I find that hard to believe. The Specialist is rude, has a terrible bedside manner, is condescending and I would never make an appointment to see him again. Once home, I used my machine as usual that night. In the morning, I checked my app to see my data, then saw there was no data. I basically had to re register my machine again, lost data due the Specialist logging into my machine with the serial number, after making a call to ask how to do it. Had I known that would happen, I would never have allowed him access to the machine. I am new to this medical condition and obviously new to the machine as well. The machine is now working properly again. For a Specialist to accuse a Professor of not being a Professor, that is very unprofessional. Being a Specialist for sleep apnoea and not knowing how a machine works is terrible. The Reception staff were wonderful, it is a shame the Specialist isn’t. The 3 stars are for the Reception Staff. Would not recommend the Specialist (that I saw) to anyone at all.

ruby C.

I had booked an appointment with Illawarra sleep medicine centre over the phone to do a sleep test. I was told there was a long wait as they had a limited amount of specialists available which was understandable.
I was booked in for an appointment which was weeks away. i waited patiently only to receive a call 3 hours before my appointment to let me know that when i called up months ago i had been booked in with a dr that only offered paediatric services & that i’m now going to have to wait another “few weeks” as the other appointments were booked out. I struggle to understand why i’m made to wait weeks for another appointment just because someone didn’t do their job correctly? i was told that i would receive a call from them regarding available dates for an appointment & haven’t heard back since. To say i’m disappointed is an understatement. I have health concerns that the sleep test hopefully was going to provide answers for hence my disappointment. not to mention the disgusting customer service. definitely don’t recommend this service. I immediately after phoned a different service in the Illawarra & was offered an appointment within the week.

Erica A.

I stayed here overnight with my 7yo son when he was having a sleep study. The staff were lovely and helpful. They were very gentle and efficient at putting all of the ‘wires’ on my son. The room was comfortable. It was a positive experience.

Patricia H.

Bad experience from beginning to the end. First sleep doctor prescribed a medication that was indicated as not working on my referral, then a 250$ sleep study where the nurse told me that "'you need to sleep if you want results"when my referral clearly indicated that I was a chronic insomniac, was given the option to go home but no refund. Now appointment cancelled at the last minute for the results with a sleep doctor that appears not to be working long term anymore at the clinic, was asked to see my GP again to get a new referral for another sleep doctor so he can read me the results and off you go!
Not recommending this practice at all and will be telling my GP to stop referring this clinic to other patients

Nathan C.

Poor communication, they ran over an hour late for my appointment and when I enquired I was told that's normal. Everyone seemed so disorganised, yet there's 3 reception staff for 2 doctors.

Kate D.

Positive experience from start to finish. Thanks everyone.

Miranda H.

Good staff!