Hepatology (Liver)

The Exeter Liver Centre provides care for all aspects of liver disease for patients across Exeter and East Devon, as well as offering some services to patients in North Devon and Somerset.

We aim to provide a patient-centred and responsive service. We are actively involved in research and both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

We treat patients with a range of conditions, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, alcohol-related liver disease and viral hepatitis.

Hepatology team

Information and about us

We see patients with a range of conditions, such as:

Autoimmune liver diseases
Autoimmune hepatitis
Primary biliary cholangitis
Primary sclerosing cholangitis
Metabolic and inherited liver diseases
Haemochromatosis
Wilsons disease
Alpha 1 antitrypsin disease
Hepatobiliary disease
Liver cirrhosis/portal hypertension and its complications
Non-cirrhotic portal hypertension
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Patients who require or who have undergone liver transplantation
Patients with end-stage liver disease who are not suitable for liver transplantation

Contact us

Northern services

North Devon District Hospital

Main switchboard on 01271 322577

Gastroenterology secretaries
Kelly- 01271 322734
Adele- 01271 322447

Eastern services

Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Wonford)
Barrack Road
Exeter
EX2 5DW

Endoscopy: Level 2, Area N
Okement Ward: Level 2, Area F
Clinics: Level 1, Area D

Main switchboard on 01392 411611

Medical Bookings Team: 01392 406925
Okement Ward: 01392 402800
Research Nurses: 01392 408937 and 01392 408940
Liver Specialist Nurse helpline: 01392 406108
Dr Hudson’s secretary 01392 408808
Dr Christie’s secretary 01392 402791
Dr Chalmer’s and Dr Wong’s secretary 01392 404087
Dr Levick’s secretary 01392 402818

Care Opinion

Feedback and patient experience are important to us; therefore we work in partnership with Care Opinion so that you can anonymously share your feedback.

You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Online: visit www.careopinion.org.uk and click on the pink “Share your story” box.

2. Phone: Call 0800 122 31 35 (free phone) Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm and tell your story to someone at Care Opinion.

Where to find us

Northern Services

North Devon District Hospital
Raleigh Park
Barnstaple
Devon
EX31 4JB

Your healthcare professional will advise where your appointment will take place. Your appointment may take place at one of our outpatient clinics situated within our main hospital sites or within the community.

Eastern services

Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Wonford)
Barrack Road
Exeter
EX2 5DW

Endoscopy: Level 2, Area N
Okement Ward: Level 2, Area F
Clinics: Level 1, Area D

Clinics and services

Community

We run twice weekly, nurse-led, community outreach services for our more vulnerable patients. This includes a weekly clinic for patients resident in Exeter prison, and a weekly outreach clinic in partnership with The Clock Tower surgery, which serves homeless and vulnerably housed patients within Exeter.

Clinics

Consultant clinics

Dr Hudson and Dr Wong – Tuesday pm and Thursday am
Dr Christie – Tuesday pm and Wednesday am
Dr Chalmers and Dr Levick – Tuesday pm and Wednesday am

Northern clinics run on a Tuesday and Thursday.

Specialist nurse and Fibroscan clinics: Daily

Community outreach: Tuesday and Thursday am

Enhanced supportive care clinics/advanced liver disease clinics: Monthly

Outpatient services

We run liver clinics from the medical outpatients department in Wonford and NDDH. These include general consultant clinics, subspecialty clinics, nurse led clinics for patients with stable cirrhosis or viral hepatitis and fibroscan clinics. There are monthly clinics run with the enhanced supportive care team (including physiotherapy and occupational therapy) for patients with advanced liver disease. We also run quarterly joint liver transplant clinics with London's Kings College Hospital alongside our partners in University Hospitals Plymouth.

The Central Outpatients Booking Teams are responsible for the management and booking of appointments for Gastroenterology and Hepatology specialties across Northern and Eastern services. They can also be contacted with regard to current outpatient waiting times across the trust.

If you cannot attend

If you are unable to attend your appointment on the day or at the time you are given, please contact the consultant’s medical secretary or the specialist nurses to rearrange the appointment or the bookings team

Interpreters

There are interpretation services such as language line or translators available if required. Please contact your consultant’s medical secretary in advance prior to your appointment to allow sufficient time for these to be arranged.

Inpatient care

Patients who are admitted either electively or as an emergency are cared for on Okement ward, a specialist environment for the management of patients with liver and gastrointestinal disease.

Day-case services

Our day-case services are provided on the ambulatory care unit (located on AMU) or through the medical ambulatory team which is located in the haematology/oncology department (Yarty day case/Cherrybrook) and are available on weekdays. The procedures most commonly performed are paracentesis (drainage of ascites) and intravenous infusions.

Other day case investigations include Endoscopy and Interventional Radiology. Endoscopy involves the insertion of a long, thin tube directly into the body to observe an internal organ or tissue in detail. We run specialised endoscopy lists for patients with portal hypertension and have advanced endoscopic facilities, including endoscopic ultrasound, ERCP and Spyglass for patients with complex hepatobiliary disease. Interventional radiology is a medical specialisation which involves performing a range of procedures to obtain images of the inside of the body. Our interventional radiology service carries out biopsies, drainage procedures and loco-regional therapies for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Meet the team

Leadership team

Rebecca Ody, Cluster Manager
Ben Brierley, Lead Nurse
Dr Ben Hudson, Lead Clinician
Dr Chris Calvert, Endoscopy Clinical Lead
Dr Richard Appleby, Clinician (Northern)

Hepatology

Dr John Christie, Consultant Hepatologist
Dr Ben Hudson, Consultant Hepatologist
Dr Lin Lee Wong, Consultant Hepatologist
Dr Jane Chalmers, Consultant Hepatologist
Dr Christina Levick, Consultant Hepatologist
Louise Dunn, Lead Alcohol Liaison Nurse
Jo Churchill – Matron for Okement Ward
Laura Strang, Lead Hepatology Nurse
Sophie Bamforth, Hepatology Specialist Nurse
Lily Zitter, Hepatology Specialist Nurse
Navishka Ratnayake Gedara, Hepatology Specialist Nurse
Georgia Pincott-Allen, Hepatology Specialist Nurse
Claire Headland, Hepatology Specialist Nurse (Northern)
Sarah McNamara – Medical Secretary
Suzanne Bolt - Medical Secretary
Yvonne Gibbons - Medical Secretary
Helen Ratcliffe - Medical Secretary
Laura Dickinson – Medical Secretary
Lailah Langdale - HCC Pathway Navigator

Services and treatments

Multidisciplinary care

We run regular specialist multidisciplinary meetings for patients with advanced liver disease, liver cancer and autoimmune liver disease. This gives patients with more complex conditions a breadth of expertise throughout their treatment. We are a hub centre for second line primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) therapies, including obeticholic acid.

Endoscopy

We run specialised endoscopy lists for patients with portal hypertension and have advanced endoscopic facilities, including endoscopic ultrasound, ERCP and spyglass for patients with complex hepatobiliary disease.

Portal hypertension/varices lists: Wednesday mornings (am)

Specialist biliary endoscopy (including ERCP, endoscopic ultrasound, spyglass): Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Interventional Radiology

This a medical specialisation which involves performing a range of procedures to obtain images of the inside of the body.

Our interventional radiology service carries out biopsies, drainage procedures and loco-regional therapies for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Patients who require admission are cared for on Okement ward.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (liver) Screening

We offer an HCC screening service to all patients who are enrolled in the programme via our liver clinics. This is offered to patients who may be more at risk of developing liver cancers compared to the general population. This involves 6- monthly ultrasound screening at either the main or community hospitals. This is usually done in conjunction with regular blood tests.

Hepatology Research

The RDUH hepatology team is invested in improving patients' care and contributing first-hand to the most up-to-date national or international guidelines in liver disease. Therefore, taking part in research is of vital importance for us.

We have a dedicated research team composed of research nurses, senior research nurses and research practitioners.

Our research activities take place in both inpatient and outpatient departments; however, we also utilize the facilities at the Research, Innovation, Learning and Development Centre (RILD) in collaboration with Exeter University and their team of laboratory technicians and scientists.

If you are interested in taking part in any research projects, please don't hesitate to ask a member of staff at your next clinical appointment. With your help, we might be able to change clinical practice and improve future patients' health conditions.

Supporting You

Liver Nurse Helpline

There is a specialist nurse helpline, available to all patients under our care. This is staffed Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. If we are unavailable, there is an answerphone service and we will endeavour to respond to all calls within three working days. You can reach the helpline on 01392 406108.

AIH Support https://aihsupport.org.uk/

Alcoholics Anonymous https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/

Alpha-1 UK Support Group www.alpha1.org.uk

British Liver Trust https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/

Force Cancer Charity https://forcecancercharity.co.uk/

Hemochromatosis Society https://www.haemochromatosis.org.uk/

Hep C Trust https://www.hepctrust.org.uk/

Talkworks https://www.talkworks.dpt.nhs.uk/

Together/ Waythrough drug and alcohol service https://www.waythrough.org.uk/

Liver4Life https://www.liver4life.org.uk/

Narcotics Anonymous https://ukna.org/

NHS Blood and Transplant https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/

PBC Foundation https://www.pbcfoundation.international/

PSC Support https://pscsupport.org.uk/

Samaritans https://www.samaritans.org/

Exeter Liver Support Group

Every Second Tuesday of the month we run the Exeter Liver Support Group. The group consists of members who have a diagnosis of a liver condition, undergoing treatment or have been a recipient of a liver transplant. Family members are welcome. This is an excellent opportunity to share experiences and learn more about liver disease. This can also be a platform to make suggestions or provide support for our local liver services. The meetings are run by the Hepatology Team with a member always in attendance. If interested feel free to ask one of our Consultants, Specialist Nurses or Secretaries for details.

The meetings are held every second Tuesday of the month on MS Teams from 6.30pm-7.45pm

To attend, you can join the link through the Exeter Liver Support Group Facebook page: www.facebook.com/groups/exeter.liversupport

If you don't have Facebook, call the Liver Nurses on 01392 406108 and they will email the link.

Patient feedback

In recent feedback from our hepatology patients attending our outpatient clinics, all respondents rated the service as ‘Very Good’. (April 2025)

‘The Nurse that did my Fibroscan was patient and gave me time with good explanation, explained results and answered my questions.’ (30/4/25) Anonymous

‘The Doctor was very approachable and informative and I left with a more positive outlook than when I arrived’. (6/5/25) Anonymous

‘The consultant took time to explain my situation at present, the future and ways to improve the length of my life’. (6/5/25) Anon.

‘We were very pleased and satisfied with the specialist nurse. She gave us a lot of time and was very thorough with information and explanation’. (7/5/25) Anon.

Two of the recent comments noted the queue for the blood room was quite long and this feedback has been passed on and reviewed by the Matron and they are looking at ways to improve this service and reduce waiting times.