The clinic – which opened in March – provides a lifeline for patients following their discharge from hospital with conditions such as gastro-intestinal bleeding, anaemia and alcohol-related liver disease.
Support is provided to help reduce the risk of readmission.
Tracey Maxfield, advanced clinical practitioner for gastroenterology at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, says: “When our patients are admitted to hospital, we do lots of work with them to get them back to better health.
“As a team, we likely wouldn’t see them again under normal circumstances until their outpatient consultant appointment.
“But what we were finding was that patients were tending to be readmitted, often with the same issue, before they got a further consultant review.
“One group of patients the clinic has really benefited is those with severe alcohol-related liver disease.
“Patients said that before the clinic was launched, they often felt nothing happened when they went home. They had all that support in hospital, and on discharge were full of hope for the future, but life crowded in on them again and they couldn’t cope. So they returned to the coping mechanisms that brought them into hospital in the first place.”
Tracey sees patients whilst they are on the hospital ward as part of their gastroenterology care, and outlines how the treatment will be followed up.
The clinic – supported by the consultants team – can organise blood tests, scans and specialist referrals.
Tracey adds: “It is very much a holistic approach looking at the whole of the person and their lives – including family, lifestyle and work.
“My hope is to prevent the alcohol-related liver disease patients from returning to taking alcohol at dangerous levels.
“We make a plan and empower them to take control of their own health, but I will continue to see and support them.
“Patients are encouraged to bring a relative or friend for support and have the choice of phone or face-to-face appointments, though many people prefer to come into the clinic to be seen.”
She says one patient, a 44-year-old man, has found the support life-changing.
He was admitted to hospital with acute hepatitis.
Since being discharged, his liver condition has been monitored by the clinic, and he has received help from a dietitian to improve his nutrition and energy levels. He has now returned to work.