Who we are and where to find us
Welcome to North Devon Breast Unit. We are dedicated to providing a comprehensive breast assessment for all people who present to our unit within two weeks of referral and most tests completed at your first visit. We see approximately 1600 new referrals each year and approximately 130 new breast cancers a year.
Contact us
Northern services
Breast surgeons:
Mrs Anna Conway
Consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon, department lead
Miss Anita Sharma
Consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon
Miss Jenny Banks
Consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon
Contact via breast unit secretary: 01271 322422
Breast care nurses:
Claire Herlihy (Advanced clinical practitioner and team lead) (NMP)
Amy Barrow (NMP)
Karen Hillman (NMP)
Amanda Disney
Abi Osborne (Assistant Practitioner)
Jackie Cockwill and Jo Nutley – Secondary Breast Care Clinical Nurse Specialists
Pippa Clifton and Holly Higgs – Breast Oncology Nurse Specialists
MDT co-ordinator
Tania Wilson
Contact number: 01271 349108
Radiology team:
Dr Sandra Owen
Consultant radiologist
Dr Milos Balvin
Consultant radiologist
Mrs Heather Mower
Advanced practitioner radiographer and lead mammographer
Contact number: 01271 311678 (ext 3678 or 3793)
Oncology team:
Dr Peter Stephens
Consultant medical oncologist
Contact number at NDDH: 01271 311898
Contact number at RD&E: 01392 404578
Dr David Hwang
Consultant clinical oncologist
Contact number at NDDH: 01271 311898
Contact number at RD&E: 01392 406204
Dr Beth Kershaw
Oncology doctor
Histopathology team:
Dr Adetope Adegbayibi
Consultant histopathologist
Lymphoedema Team
At Barnstaple Health Centre near Green Lanes
Georgina Martin
Macmillan lymphoedema specialist practitioner
Angela Ives
Lymphoedema Specialist Nurse
Contact number: 01271 341551
Where will I be seen?
Your healthcare professional will advise where your appointment will take place. The majority of appointments will take place at Outpatients A on Level 2.
Oncology appointments take place in the Seamoor Unit
North Devon District Hospital
Raleigh Park
Barnstaple
Devon
EX31 4JB
Meet the team
Breast surgeons:
Mrs Anna Conway
Consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon, department lead
Anita Sharma
Consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon
Jenny Banks
Consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon
Contact via breast unit secretary: 01271 322422
Breast care nurses:
Claire Herlihy (lead) (NMP)
Amy Barrow
Karen Hillman (NMP)
Amanda Disney
Abigail Osbourne (Assistant Practitioner)
Jackie Cockwill – Secondary Breast Care Clinical Nurse Specialist
Pippa Clifton – breast Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist
Contact number: 01271 349115
Radiology team:
Dr Sandra Owen
Consultant radiologist
Dr Milos Balvin
Consultant radiologist
Mrs Heather Mower
Advanced practitioner radiographer and lead mammographer
Mrs Ruth Glover
Advanced practitioner radiographer and lead mammographer
Contact number: 01271 311678 (ext 3678 or 3793)
Oncology team:
Dr Peter Stephens
Consultant medical oncologist
Contact number at NDDH: 01271 311898
Contact number at RD&E: 01392 404578
Contact number at NDDH: 01271 311898
Contact number at RD&E: 01392 406204
Histopathology team:
Dr Adetope Adegbayibi
Consultant histopathologist
Lymphoedema Team
At Barnstaple Health Centre near Green Lanes
Georgina Martin
Macmillan lymphoedema specialist practitioner
Angela Ives
Lymphoedema Specialist Nurse
Contact number: 01271 341551
Supporting you
Having cancer can have an impact on every aspect of your life and on those around you. We understand that this is a difficult and often frightening time for you and your loved ones, which is why we have put together a wide range of information to help you live with and beyond cancer.
Some of these services are available locally, whilst others cover Devon and/or the South West Peninsula as a whole.
Clinics
Northern services
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Two-week wait (mammo and ultrasound available) clinics take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays
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Results and follow-up clinics take place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Specialist nurse-led clinics
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Monday AM - Hormone only/ Family HistoryPM - PIFU (Patient Initiated Follow UP)Wednesday AM - Alternate Prosthesis Fitting ClinicsPM - PIFUFriday AM - End of Treatment and PIFU
A Lymphoedema clinic runs at Barnstaple Health Centre on Thursdays (Vicarage Street, Barnstaple, EX32 7BH 01271 341551).
Patient information leaflets
We produce a wide range of leaflets which provide information about our services and about the treatment you might receive in our clinics or during your stay in hospital.
We also produce these in different formats including large print, please contact the department you are visiting for more information.
- Advice after punch biopsy
- Breast / axilla (under arm) ultrasound
- Breast awareness
- Breast cancer related lymphoedema
- Breast cancer treatment plan – open access follow-up
- Breast care after your needle biopsy
- Breast care nurse specialist – secondary breast cancer
- Breast Care Nursing Service
- Breast clinic
- Breast core biopsy
- Breast MRI scan
- Day surgery advice for breast care patients
- Mammography
- Mammography on the augmented/implant breast
- Secondary breast care service
- Under-breast soreness
Information for healthcare professionals
You can be referred directly from your GP for diagnosis and treatment under the two-week urgent referral protocol.
Please note imaging is only available on a Tuesday or Thursday.
Urgent referrals
Breast lumps
Any new palpable breast lump which is suspicious of breast cancer
Any lump associated with nipple or skin changes
Any new skin dimple
Skin changes characteristic of peau d’orange
Mammographic abnormality suspicious of cancer
Persistant palpable axillary lymph node
Inflammatory
Suspicious of inflammatory breast cancer or persistent mastitis/abscess
Nipple changes/discharge
Blood-stained nipple discharge
Clear nipple discharge
Nipple eczema suspicious of Paget’s disease
Nipple retraction or distortion of recent onset
Suspected male breast cancer
Non-tender breast lump in a male (0.2% of all breast cancers are in male patients)
Routine referrals
Symptoms
Recurrent breast cysts in a patient with a past history of benign cysts
Persistent breast tenderness or nodularity
Persistent breast pain not responding to simple pain killers
Non-blood stained nipple discharge
Tender gynaecomastia in a male
Family history of breast cancer
One first-degree relative diagnosed with breast cancer under 40
Two or more first or second-degree relatives
One or more first-degree relatives with bilateral breast cancer
(a first-degree relative can be a mother, father, sister or daughter and a second degree relative can be an aunt, grandmother or granddaughter)