University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Hepatology Department provides care for all aspects of liver disease to our local population in the centre and South of Bristol.

We also provide regional services for complex liver disease, for example liver cancer, hepatitis C, complex portal hypertension and liver transplantation, in collaboration with the Royal Free Hospital, London. 

Our services are delivered mostly at the Bristol Royal Infirmary hospital, with some of our services taking place at South Bristol Community Hospital. University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and Weston General Hospital merged in April 2020 and integration of these services is underway.

Medical Staff

Dr Fiona Gordon, Consultant Hepatologist and Hep C ODN lead

Special Interests: Viral Hepatitis and Hepatobiliary endoscopic ultrasound.

Dr Anne McCune, Consultant Hepatologist and Clinical Director

Special interests: Alcohol-related liver disease, complex portal hypertension (variceal bleeding and ascites), hereditary haemochromatosis and autoimmune liver diseases

Dr James Orr, Consultant Hepatologist

Special interests: Liver cancer, Cirrhosis and its complications, Liver transplant assessment and follow up, Community Hepatology

Dr Jim Portal, Consultant Hepatologist and Endoscopy Lead

Special interests: Hepatobiliary disease / Hepatobiliary endoscopy, Liver transplant assessment, Liver related renal injury, adolescent hepatology.

Our clinical team also includes a clinical research fellow and a registrar.

Dr Gautham Appanna, Consultant Hepatologist.

Specialist interests:  Prevention/early detection of liver disease, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), Cirrhosis and portal hypertension management, Vascular disorders of the liver, Liver Transplantation.

Dietician: Gabby Edwards

Pharmacist: Matthew Pitman

Specialist Nurse Teams

Hepatology specialist nurse: Victoria Hunt, cirrhosis, day case paracentesis and primary liver cancer

Transplant specialist nurses: Amy Williams and Sarah Lees,liver transplant coordinators

Viral specialist nurses: Jane Gitahi, Jeesha George and Vivian Delatorre, Hepatitis C and other blood borne viruses

Alcohol specialist nurses: Sarah Saleem, Jodi Warner, Lucy Kroumer and Grace Cameron

A522 Ward Manager: Jody Saunders

Management Team

Paul Harris: Specialty Manager

Lea Staynings: Assistant specialty manager

Jenny Wring: Clinic coordinators

Ruby Morecroft, Heather Northcott, Lois Morecroft, and Julianne Jones: Medical Secretary Team           

Contact information

Clinics

General and Specialist Consultant Led Hepatology - consultants

Viral Hepatitis - Viral specialist nurse team

Liver Transplant pre assessment and follow up - Liver transplant nurses

Stable Cirrhosis - Hepatology specialist nurse 

Primary Liver Cancer - Consultant and hepatology specialist nurse

Alcohol - alcohol specialist nurse team

Locations of Services

Outpatient department: A410 at the BRI and South Bristol Community Hospital ( how to find South Bristol)

Radiology department: BRI & South Bristol Community Hospital

Endoscopy: BRI & South Bristol Community Hospital

Information on travelling to and from our hospitals

Map of our sites

Patient Feedback

How are we doing? If you'd like to give us some feedback, please email us at GastroHepSecs@uhbristol.nhs.uk

Want to be more involved? We are looking for some patient representatives to help us shape liver care at the BRI for the future. If you are interested, please email us to find out more.

 We're looking for patients to join the Bristol Liver support group which has recently started. Please view the Bristol Liver support group document for more information.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ's)

Patient leaflets

Primary Liver Cancer

The hepatocellular cancer service is part of the Avon Somerset and Wiltshire HPB cancer network and provides care to patients with focal liver lesions and hepatocellular cancer from all over the region. A dedicated clinic and team deliver a full range of therapies including resection, loco regional treatments (Radio frequency ablation and Trans arterial chemo embolization) and systemic chemotherapy. The hospital is also the designated regional centre for the treatment of Hepato-biliary and pancreatic cancers.

We also are one of only a handful of centres in the UK to offer Hepatobiliary Cholangioscopy (SpyGlass) which allows direct visualisation of abnormalities within the bile ducts and the liver, and treatment of complicated gallstones that would otherwise require surgery. This is in conjunction with our hepatobiliary MDT.

Hepatitis C

The Department provides several regional services; the hepatitis C service is one of the biggest in the UK treating over 120 patients per year including patients with complex disease (cirrhosis, previous treatment failure, co-infection with HIV). Our unit participates in cutting edge clinical trials, which often allow our patients to access the most up to date treatments.

Link to ODN page

Transplant

In order to provide the best quality of care as locally as possible, we run, in conjunction with our transplant partners at the Royal Free Hospital (London), an established liver transplant service.  Patients are assessed for transplantation with the majority of their work-up performed in Bristol. Patients are transplanted at the Royal Free and returned after the operation to be followed up at Bristol. All pre transplant care is provided locally to minimise unnecessary travel to London. A transplant clinic is run weekly for pre- ,peri- and post-transplant patients by a consultant and transplant Clinical Nurse Specialist. Stable patients following their transplant are reviewed in a quarterly transplant clinic attended by transplant physicians from The Royal Free Hospital, London.

The UH Bristol Liver Unit is a progressive department which is involved in the care of all aspects of liver disease in our local population, as well as providing regional services for complex liver disease.

Ward A522 is a 25 bedded ward which specialises in liver medicine. We have 4 high dependency beds and 4 cubicles. We treat many different liver disorders and but also provide care for patients admitted with gastrointestinal bleeding.

We work closely with the drug and alcohol services and aim to provide an environment for patients to undergo withdrawal from alcohol safely and efficiently. We are an extremely busy ward but have a very good team and have received some very good feedback from patients. Here are some examples:

• Helpful Staff and a happy atmosphere
• Was very well looked after and care from the nurses was great, thank you
• The care I had while I was here was amazing, they are friendly, caring, very polite and I couldn't ask for better
• The doctors and nurses were really helpful and you could have a laugh with them
• Excellent, friendly staff always willing to help
• The care and support I received from the whole team of nursing staff has been superb. The staff is caring, kind, understanding. They have done everything to relieve my pain and have supported me throughout. Made me feel well and comfortable

Ward A522 content: 0117 342 0313

Paracentesis day cases available daily 9am - 6pm

The department is very research active with dedicated research nurses and a registrar. We regularly participate in national clinical trials, which have recently included a large UK wide study investigating the best treatment for alcohol related liver disease. These trials also allow us to offer our patients access to the most up to date treatments, including the AlphaPump (a novel way of treating ascites) and ELAD (a liver life support machine). We are also actively recruiting patients into several studies investigating the best way in which to treat liver cancer. Because of our research activity, we are also now able to offer access to the new medications that are now available to treat hepatitis C. 

Previous and current studies we have been involved in include:

ATTIRE; A study on using Albumin to prevent infection in chronic liver failure.

ASqoL: Protocol for a prospective cohort study to develop and validate AScites Quality of Life questionnaire

COBALT: A study of Obeticholic Acid evaluating clinical outcomes in patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Cosmic 312 - A study into advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who have not received previous systemic anticancer therapy

ISIAH: A trial is to explore the potential benefits of the IL-1β antibody, Canakinumab (solution for injection), in the treatment of alcoholic hepatitis