South West Liver Unit Outpatient Services

Picture of main outpatients sign

The South West Liver Unit offers a number of outpatient services to manage all aspects of liver disease and its complications. In addition to our general liver service we also provide tertiary level services, complex hepatobiliary surgery and pre and post liver transplant care.

 

Our services are consultant led. They are delivered by consultants, clinical nurse specialists, experienced doctors in specialty training and other allied health professionals. During your clinic visit you may meet different members of our multidisciplinary team. In addition to our hospital based clinics we also provide telephone / virtual clinics, community clinics, domiciliary reviews and a nurse led telephone helpline service.

 

Our outpatient department has a phlebotomy service available and there is a Lloyd’s pharmacy accessible from the outpatient department.  A translator service for those patients where English is not their first language or who are hearing impaired is available, as is involvement from our learning disabilities team for patients who may benefit from their support. General advice about the outpatient department and other frequently asked questions can be found on Your Outpatient Appointment page.

 

Most of our clinics have Fibroscan technology available if needed. We are also introducing the Critical Flicker Frequency Test for assessment of hepatic encephalopathy (confusion related to liver disease) for our patients with cirrhosis.

 

Many of our clinics provide teaching and training for doctors and medical students, supervised by a Consultant. Please let a member of staff know if you do not wish to have the medical student present or be seen by a doctor in training.

 

 

Outpatient Hepatology Clinics

General Hepatology Clinic

These clinics see new and follow-up patients with a wide variety of liver and / or biliary diseases.

  • Monday                     P.M clinic

  • Wednesday               A.M clinic

  • Thursday                   P.M clinic      

 

Liver Transplant Clinic

This clinic sees patients who are in the first few weeks post liver transplant or those on the wait list for liver transplant.

  • Wednesday               A.M clinic

  • Friday                        P.M clinic

We run a joint clinic with King’s College London Liver team every four months.

 

Liver Transplant Assessment Clinic & Tertiary Referral Clinic

This clinic sees patients who have been referred for liver transplant assessment or for discussion about more complex therapies and interventional procedures.

  • Friday                        P.M clinic

 

Jaundice Clinic

These clinics are rapid access clinics to see and assess patients with jaundice. Patients will have an ultrasound and blood tests on the same day prior to being reviewed. The booking letter will detail where you should attend. 

  • Tuesday                    Starts 9am

  • Thursday                   Starts 9am

 

Viral Hepatitis Clinic

These clinics see patients being assessed and treated for viral hepatitis.

  • Monday                     A.M & P.M clinic

  • Wednesday               A.M clinic

  • Thursday                   P.M clinic

We also provide joint clinics for patients co-infected with viral hepatitis and HIV in the GU medicine department.

 

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Surveillance Clinic

These clinics see patients at risk of developing liver cancer. 

  • Monday                     P.M clinic

  • Thursday                   P.M clinic (same day liver ultrasound available)

 

Ward Follow up Clinic

This clinic sees patients recently discharged from the ward to manage medications and any complications since discharge. It facilitates earlier discharge from the ward and prevents early readmissions.

  • Monday                     P.M clinic

 

Advanced Care Planning Clinic

This clinic is set up to discuss in depth the individual wishes and expectations of patients with end stage liver disease.

  • Friday                        P.M clinic

 

Pre-Clerking Clinic

This clinic sees patients who are organised for procedures by the SWLU team to ensure that medications and blood tests are reviewed and that any questions can be answered.

  • Friday                        A.M clinic

 

Fibroscan Clinic

Fibroscan is a technology used to assess the stiffness of the liver, which helps us to assess whether scarring is likely to be present or not. This dedicated clinic sees patients who only need to have a Fibroscan e.g. to monitor patients on Methotrexate.

  • Monday                     A.M clinic

 

Community / Outreach Clinic

Currently we offer outreach clinics at our local Prison HMP Dartmoor and community drug and alcohol service (Harbour).

 

Transition Clinic

This clinic happens every three months to help patients move from paediatric care to adult care. It is run by us and our paediatric colleagues.

 

 

We continue to develop our service and work to implement ways to improve your experience.  We have initiated one stop clinics, to allow for rapid assessment and treatment where needed, and to reduce the number of visits made to hospital. We are also working with General Practitioners to streamline the referral service for patients with suspected Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

 

We are keen to gain feedback and suggestions to improve our service and recommend patients joining our Patient Participation Group.

 

Patients seeing the Hepatobiliary Team should follow the link to the Peninsula Liver and HPB Cancer Centre.

 

 

Clinic Locations

Our clinics are located in Main Outpatient Department (level 6) of the Main Hospital, as detailed on the appointment letter. Very occasionally the clinic may be held elsewhere in the hospital, which will be documented on the appointment letter. The following link will take you to the hospital map.

A map of the main outpatient department

 

 

Transport and Parking

Transport

The hospital is well serviced by public transport and patients and visitors are encouraged to use it whenever possible for travelling to the hospital. Further information can be found on the transport information page.

Patient and Visitor Parking

Derriford Hospital has just over 1000 parking spaces for patients and visitors available around the site in pay and display parking areas. There are a number of concessionary tickets available.  Full information can be found on the car park page

 

 

Contact us

The SWLU team would be grateful if patients who are unable to make appointments please inform us prior, so that we can use the appointment for another patient.

                                                           

Booking Team:                     01752 439928

                                             01752 439932

 

 

 

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