Endocrinology services
We welcome generic referrals to our service or targeted
sub-specialty referrals to the responsible clinical leads as
highlighted below.
Contact details for referrals
GPs please use the electronic referral system (ERS).
Endocrine clinic co-ordinator
Tel: 0117 342 7202 9am - 11am and 1pm - 3pm
Endocrine secretaries (Urgent internal and intra-hospital
referrals should be emailed securely to the endocrine secretaries
on
ubh-tr.diabetesandendoadmin@nhs.net)
Neuroendocrinology
Encompasses neuroendocrine tumours, adrenal disorders and
familial endocrine syndromes.
There are clear co-ordinated care pathways with a responsible
multi-professional team including named individuals for HPB and
adrenal surgery, oncology, radiology, histopathology, anaesthetics
and clinical biochemistry. Bi-monthly neuroendocrine MDT meetings
are held and there is a dedicated sub-specialty neuroendocrine
tumour (NET) clinic.
The service has close links with the geographically neighbouring
NET MDTs in Oxford, Birmingham and Cardiff and the teams hold an
annual educational meeting co-ordinated by Dr Karin Bradley to
share clinical expertise and to support service development.
The NET service also has close affiliations with and support
from the NET Patient Foundation or 0800 434 6476,
and AMEND or
01892 516076, as the two excellent patient support groups for
patients with neuroendocrine conditions.
Service lead: Dr Karin Bradley.
Pituitary Disorders
Bi-monthly joint pituitary clinic and pituitary MDM on the
Southmead site - co-ordinated by Mr Richard Nelson, consultant
neurosurgeon, Dr Karin Bradley (UHB endocrinology) and Dr Vernon
Parfitt (NBT endocrinology).
The service has close links with the Bristol support group of
the Pituitary Foundation.
Service lead: Dr Karin Bradley.
Reproductive Endocrinology
Co-ordinated care pathways exist for all local and regional
reproductive endocrinology referrals. These include patients with
conditions such as Turner's syndrome and CAH. The patients may be
seen in a variety of appropriate clinics (including a combined
endocrinology/gynaecology clinic led by Dr Bushra Ahmad) depending
upon their individual needs.
Please make generic referrals to the endocrine department via
e-RS and patients will be assigned to the appropriate
clinic.
Specialist Thyroid/Ophthalmology Clinic
The BRI endocrine service offers a parallel clinic co-ordinated
with ophthalmology for patients with thyroid eye disease to
streamline their complex care.
Service lead: Dr Bushra Ahmad.
Thyroid cancer services are co-ordinated as follows:
- Medullary thyroid cancer is co-ordinated via the NET
multi-disciplinary team with named input from head and neck
surgery and oncology.
- Papillary, follicular and anaplastic thyroid cancer is managed
in a dedicated weekly oncology clinic co-ordinated by consultant
oncologist, Dr Matt Beasley and the Head and Neck
multi-disciplinary team.
- Dr Karin Bradley is the named endocrinology link for the Head
and Neck multi-disciplinary team as required.
Aftercare Service (including Endocrine Late Effects of
Childhood Cancer Service)
This is a joint clinical service run with the paediatric
oncologists (Dr Rachel Cox and Dr Rachel Dommett) dedicated to the
care and support of teenagers and young adults who were treated for
cancer or leukaemia (or certain related conditions) in childhood
and during their teenage years. Most young adults who have been
successfully treated for cancer live healthy lives, but some suffer
from the long-term effects from their cancer or its treatment.
Others are advised to have check-ups to ensure that they remain
well. The endocrine component of this service provides expert
advice for individuals whose cancer treatment has affected the
function of their hormones. A combined clinic with endocrinology
runs twice per month and a multi-disciplinary meeting (including
paediatric oncology, nurse specialists, paediatric and adult
endocrinology) is held monthly.
Macmillan support worker:
Tel 0117 342 8607.
Fax: 0117 342 8628.
The South West Aftercare service is based at Bristol Royal
Hospital for Children (BRHC) and The Teenage Young Adult
outpatient unit at Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, and is
part of UH Bristol.
Endocrine service leads: Dr Bushra Ahmad, Dr Karin Bradley and
Dr Adam Gassas.
Antenatal Endocrinology
A weekly joint endocrine antenatal clinic is held at St
Michael's Hospital, where all patients receive care from both the
endocrinology and the obstetric team. In addition, as appropriate,
the services of diabetes specialist nurses, a diabetes specialist
midwife and a dietician are available. Referrals can be made to the
service leads below or via the consultant obstetricians - Miss
Louise Ashelby and Miss Emma Treloar.
Endocrine service leads: Dr Karin Bradley and Dr Natasha
Thorogood.
General/Secondary Care Endocrinology
The BRI service hosts weekly endocrine clinics offering the full
range of secondary care endocrine services and expertise. All
clinics are consultant supervised and all new and follow up
patients are seen by a consultant or a senior specialist registrar.
Any patients seen by a senior specialist registrar are discussed
with a consultant to finalise the care plan.
Endocrine Specialist Nurse Clinics
Bristol Royal Infirmary's endocrine department have two adult
endocrine nurse specialists who are nurse members of The Society
for Endocrinology. The nurse specialists are available to offer
advice and support to patients on a range of endocrine conditions
including:
· Disorders of
the pituitary gland
· Disorders of
the adrenal glands
· Disorders of
the thyroid gland
· Neuroendocrine
tumours
· Genetic
endocrine conditions such as MEN
The endocrine nurse specialists are members of the
multidisciplinary team for endocrinology, adrenals and
neuroendocrine tumours, they also run their own nurse led endocrine
clinics where they offer endocrine condition reviews, education,
support and carry out diagnostic endocrine tests. They are also
involved in the transition of paediatric endocrine patients to the
adult service.
Inpatient Endocrine Service
The endocrinology team support inpatient care on weekdays to
offer advice or an inpatient review. In addition, shared care with
endocrinology is offered for all patients admitted for endocrine
surgery to optimise quality, safety and to minimise as much as
possible the requirement to stay in hospital. Appropriate care
pathways and guidelines are in place.
