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Hepatology Fellow helps improve patient care

May 20, 2024

Thanks to funding from LNWH Charity, through the transformation innovation fund, the hepatology service is going from strength to strength.

Hepatology is involved in the study, prevention, diagnosis, and management of diseases that affect the liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas.

Dr Jayshri Shah, consultant hepatologist and LNWH Trust lead tells us more: “When I joined the Trust in February last year, it was clear that the hepatology service lacked identity and direction.

“I registered to fulfil 15 quality improvement projects and some of these were quick wins for the service such as getting information on the staff Intranet. We identified how we received and directed referrals wasn’t quite working as well as it could, so hepatology patients were not being seen in the correct clinics. We now have a filtration system in place, which means that patients are being seen in dedicated consultant or nurse led liver clinics. We commenced the nurse led cirrhosis surveillance clinics, hot liver clinic, fibroscan clinics and started a joint viral hepatitis working group.

“Although much had been achieved, I recognised that I needed help with some longer-term projects and sustain the launch of various new projects. I was delighted when my transformation innovation application was approved to appoint a hepatology fellow for eight months, who will is dedicating one day a week to support the ongoing quality improvement projects.

“I approached colleagues, and Dr Muhammad Kashif expressed a keen interest so the funding I received is being used to backfill his post which commenced in March this year. Muhammad has been a huge asset and is very dedicated.

“We are identifying around 20 new hepatitis B patients every month. Although it is an infectious disease, it affects the liver, so the teams are working together to treat these patients. Muhammad supports monthly joint viral hepatitis meetings, biweekly liver histology meetings and our nurse-led cirrhosis surveillance service, which identifies patients who need six-monthly ultrasounds.

“We’ve made great progress and have laid the foundations, so hopefully we’ll receive more funding to continue improving the quality of our service.”

Four people standing in front of a reception area.

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