The regional service was established in January 2008 to provide care for children with bowel disorders within the East of England region. This service is part of the wider East of England Paediatric Gastroenterology Network (EEPGN). Our team sees around 2300 children a year in specialist clinics, looks after about 300 children with inflammatory bowel disease and carries out about 600 procedures a year on children from premature infants to young people up to 16 years of age.
Extra information
There are dedicated nurse and dietitian led clinics for children with coeliac disease, joint clinics with paediatric and adult surgeons, and close clinical and research links with the adult gastroenterology service. Further specialty clinics include a multi-disciplinary complex feeding,clinic that includes a child psychologist, speech therapist and senior dietitian. In addition we provide liver clinics (with shared care arrangements to King’s College Hospital) and an intestinal failure assessment and treatment service. We also provide a full range of specialised ambulatory investigations that include pH / impedance monitoring, video capsule endoscopy and hydrogen breath testing.
Departments / Units / service enhancers
Gastroenterology Department
Key personnel
Dr Rob Heuschkel, Dr Camilla Salvestrini, Dr Franco Torrente, Prof. Matthias Zilbauer
Information for patients
You will be sent a letter asking you to call to arrange the date and time of your appointment. If you are then unable to attend, it is important that you let us know as soon as possible. Please call the number on your appointment letter so that we can give your appointment to another patient waiting to come to clinic. To make your child’s clinic appointment as productive as possible, please arrive 20 minutes earlier than your scheduled appointment and allow plenty of time for parking and locating the clinic if you are unfamiliar with its location.
Referral information
For a new patient appointment, a child's GP or paediatrician can arrange an initial appointment by sending a letter, email or calling the department. Urgent referrals can be discussed with any gastroenterology team member during working hours. We do our best to schedule children according to their medical need. We aim to see all new patients within 5 weeks of receiving their referral. For your outpatient visit please bring the following: reports of investigations carried out at other hospitals or by the GP in relation to your child’s compliant, current list of all medications your child is taking and a summary of medications your child has been placed on related to hi s/ her complaint, parent held child records including growth charts (as appropriate). The first visit is mostly a consultation with one of the doctors. You should prepare your child for a physical examination, and we may request your child have blood tests, a urine sample and /or x-rays during this visit. Any further testing that needs to be done is usually arranged for another day. Your child may eat their normal diet on the day of the first appointment.
Clinics
Clinic 6
Nearest bus stop
Outpatients
Nearest car park
Car Park 1