Liver service back in the pink
Jayshri Shah, Consultant Hepatologist and Trust Hepatology Lead, discovered she had her work cut out when she arrived at St Mark’s Hospital 14 months ago to find a service lacking in identity and direction.
The service was beset by staff shortages, lack of funding, the most rudimentary of in and outpatient services, and no presence on the trust’s intranet or website.
“I wanted a challenge and I certainly got one,” said Jayshri who has completed a remarkable turnaround in the unit’s fortunes including the completion of 13 Quality Improvement projects.
Two of the projects subsequently won praise from the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) including the introduction of Hot Liver clinic to reduce length of stay in hospital and development of a multidisciplinary chronic Hepatitis B service.
The projects’ value was subsequently recognised at BSG and European Association of Study of Liver meetings.
LNWH worked alongside Harness Primary Care Network in a joint bid for a liver pilot screening project to help early detection of liver disease ensuring 75% of cancers are diagnosed at an early stage.
The project attracted further funding from the Cancer Alliance. “It’s been an enormous amount of work but also very satisfying,” said Jayshri.
The service is now preparing to apply for accreditation with the Improving Quality in Liver Services programme.