Referral

You will be referred to us if there is a concern regarding your liver, pancreas or biliary system. We manage a wide range of conditions including cirrhosis, alcohol-related liver diseases, fatty liver, viral hepatitis, autoimmune conditions, biliary conditions, metabolic liver disease and cancers of the liver, gallbladder or pancreas.

We look at all referrals from GPs and other departments in the Hepatology Clinical Assessment Service (CAS), enabling us to give early advice and to arrange appropriate investigations before your outpatient appointment (see Hepatology CAS leaflet). We will always try to arrange a face-to-face visit if we feel this is necessary for the first visit but this visit and subsequent visits may be carried out by telephone or face to face. At your initial appointment you may also have a Fibroscan, a specialised ultrasound scan of the liver, which allows us to determine the severity of any liver fibrosis.

Clinics at St. George’s run on Monday mornings and Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. There is also a clinic on Wednesday afternoons at Queen Mary’s Hospital (Roehampton). We work as a team and you may be seen by a consultant, a doctor in specialist training and/or by a specialist nurse or pharmacist but there will be a named consultant who is responsible for your care.  Discussion is a key part of our multidisciplinary team approach.

If your GP is referring you to exclude cancer we will start your investigations and management within two weeks.

In addition to our out-patient work we have a dedicated in-patient hepatology service on Allingham ward with daily review of patients with liver, pancreatic and biliary related diseases by a consultant liver specialist. A Gastroenterology and Liver Day Unit has also been set up to enable patients to be assessed or receive treatment without the need for admission.

Our role as a teaching hospital means we are responsible for training medical students, trainee doctors and allied health professionals. We also have an active research programme including participation in national and international studies, which you may be approached to take part in, either in clinic or on the ward.