Specialist Centres

SPECIALIST CENTRES FOR PANCREATIC CONDITIONS

If you live in the UK and have been diagnosed with a pancreatic condition or cancer, you should have your case reviewed at a specialist care centre. These centres have been set up across the UK on a regional basis. Hospitals in a region work together with the specialist centres to try to ensure the best treatment and care for all patients.

The regional surgical centre should have formally established links with a network of surrounding district hospitals so that all patients within their network/region should have their cases considered by the regional surgical centre even if the patient never actually attends a clinic at that hospital.

Their case should be considered by meetings of multidisciplinary teams (MDT) of specialists including gastroenterologists, radiologists, surgeons, oncologists, specialist nurses etc who will look at the scans and other test information and decide on the best treatment options and in particular whether the patient may be suitable for surgery. These meetings are usually held once a week to consider all the latest cases. If a patient is seen at a hospital that isn’t the surgical centre their case will first be discussed at the local MDT and then referred on to the regional centre MDT meeting. The patient should then be seen by a specialist at clinic at either the local hospital or surgical centre or both.

If a patient is considered a candidate for surgery they will be referred onto the regional surgical centre if not already under a Consultant at that hospital.

If it is decided that surgery is not possible it is likely that the patient will then remain under the management of the local hospital cancer centre or be referred to another centre providing specialist chemotherapy or radiotherapy and trials. If the patient is not fit enough for treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy they may then return for palliative care under the care of their GP, Macmillan nurses, local hospices etc.

Cancer services are organized within regional cancer networks. http://www.cancer.nhs.uk/networks.htm . The cancer network may not exactly coincide with the network of hospitals serving a regional pancreatic cancer surgical centre however they often do. The cancer network has tumour specific working groups of specialists with patient (or user/carer) representatives who agree the local guidelines for provision of services within the network within the framework of national guidelines eg NICE or DoH. The work of the cancer networks is subject to periodical peer review. These tumour groups may be called “Upper GI” ie include all upper gastorenterological cancers such as oesophageal, gastric (stomach), pancreatic, bile duct and liver or there may be separate groups for HPB and oesophageal plus gastric cancers.

ENGLAND

EAST

Cambridge

Cambridge Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Cancer Service

Addenbrooke's Hospital

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

East Midlands

Leicester

The Leicester HPB Unit

Leicester General Hospital

Gwendolen Road, Leicester

Nottingham

The Nottingham Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Service

Queens Medical Centre 

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust 

London

London South East 

The Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB) Service

Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

London South West

Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

London North East

Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel 

Barts and The London HPB Centre

London North West

The hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) unit at Hammersmith Hospital 

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

London North

The Sheila Sherlock Liver Centre 

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

North East England

Newcastle

The North East's Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Centre

Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

North West England

Blackburn

The East Lancashire Specialist HPB Cancer Multidisciplinary Team,

Royal Blackburn Hospital  

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust 

Liverpool

The Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Team 

Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust

Manchester

Central Manchester Foundation Trust

Manchester Royal Infirmary

 Christies NHS Foundation Trust

South East England

Guildford

The Regional Hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) Unit

Royal Surrey County Hospital

 Oxford

 The Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB) Cancer Multidisciplinary Team

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust 

Southampton

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust

South West England

Plymouth

Peninsula Liver and Heptobiliary Cancer Centre

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

West Midlands

Birmingham

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust 

Coventry

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

Stoke on Trent

City General Hospital

University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust

Yorkshire

Hull

Castle Hill Hospital

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals 

Leeds

North & West Yorkshire Pancreas Department, St James University Hospital)

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Sheffield

Northern General Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

Northern Ireland

Belfast

Surgical centre for Northern Ireland cancer network

Belfast Hospitals Trust

Scotland

Aberdeen and Dundee

 Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

Surgical centres for North of Scotland Cancer Network

Edinburgh

 Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Surgical centre for South East Scotland cancer network]

Glasgow

Royal Glasgow Infirmary and Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre for non-surgical treatment

Surgical centre for West of Scotland Cancer Network

Inverness

Raigmore Hospital, NHS Highland

Surgical centre for North of Scotland Cancer Network, Highland area

Wales

North Wales

Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust

Surgical centre for North Wales Cancer Network

South Wales

Morriston Hospital

Surgical centre for South East Wales Cancer Network and South-West Wales Cancer Network

Ireland

Dublin: National Surgical Centre St Vincent's Hospitals