Scope of Practice & Procedures
Dr Thomas “Tom” D. Riisfeldt is thrilled to be the first ever permanently-based neurologist working in Port Macquarie, commencing 9th February 2026. Tom is an adult neurologist and a subspecialist epileptologist and neurophysiologist/neuromuscular specialist, and is additionally a physician, philosopher/bioethicist and medical educator.
Tom is highly trained in the diagnosis and management of a broad range of neurological conditions. His subspecialties, which involved completion of dedicated fellowship years, focussed on the care of patients suffering from seizures/epilepsy and neuromuscular conditions affecting muscles (myopathies), myasthenia gravis and other neuromuscular junction conditions, neuropathies (including carpal tunnel syndrome/other mononeuropathies and various peripheral neuropathies including Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)), brachial and lumbosacral plexopathies, radiculopathies affecting the nerve roots, motor neuron disease (MND)/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and myelopathies affecting the spinal cord.
Tom also has extensive experience and interest in diagnosing and managing other neurological conditions including stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA), migraine and other headache syndromes, vertigo disorders, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other movement disorders, multiple sclerosis (MS) and other demyelinating/neuroimmunological conditions, early-onset dementias/cognitive impairment (typically in <65-year-olds), and neuro-ophthalmological conditions. He is also skilled in the diagnosis of functional neurological disorder (FND), although the management of this condition is then primarily through psychiatrists and psychologists.
Tom also performs a range of neurological procedures. These include:
1. The reading of electroencephalograms (EEGs). Tom reads all of his EEGs himself from scratch (without prior pre-reading from an EEG technician), and EEGs are performed with meticulous accuracy on newly-acquired, state-of-the-art equipment. Furthermore, he is currently on-track to attain the highest level of EEG qualification (ANZAN/ESA Level 3) prior to February 2026. Tom offers EEGs to patients ≥4-years-old, later extending to patients ≥1-year-old in around May 2026.
2. Nerve conduction studies (NCS), electromyography (EMG) and repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS). Tom performs and reports all of these neurodiagnostic studies personally (without them being separately performed by a neurophysiology technician), preferring to take a hands-on approach, and again these are performed with meticulous accuracy on newly-acquired, state-of-the-art equipment. Tom has attained official ANZAN Level 2 NCS/EMG certification. Tom offers these neurodiagnostic studies to ≥16-year-olds.
3. Non-cosmetic Botulinum toxin injections for migraine and neuromuscular disorders (such as blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm and cervical dystonia/torticollis), and greater and lesser occipital nerve (GON/LON) blocks for cervicogenic headache/migraine. Migraine injections will commence from around February 2026, whereas neuromuscular injections will commence from around May 2026.
Tom is also skilled in the interpretation of imaging (particularly MRIs and CTs) of the central nervous system.
