Regional Liver Unit

What the Service Does

The Regional Liver Unit provides inpatient and outpatient care for patients with all aspects of liver disease, including:

Liver transplantation assessment and follow-up
Inpatient and outpatient hepatology/ liver disease services
Alcohol-related liver disease
Non-alcohol related fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
Primary liver cancer screening programme
Primary liver cancer treatments
Viral hepatitis
Chronic liver failure
Portal hypertension
Inherited liver disease
Auto-immune liver diseases (primary biliary cholangitis [PBC], primary sclerosing cholangitis [PSC] and autoimmune hepatitis [AIH])
Paediatric transition service in conjunction with RBHSC and QE, Birmingham

We are a formal networked satellite transplant centre for King’s College Hospital, London, providing tertiary hepatology services for all liver disease patients in Northern Ireland.

Who Provides the Service

The Regional Liver Unit service is provided by a team of 8 hepatology consultants, supported by the wider multi-disciplinary team, including specialty registrars, specialty doctors, pharmacists, specialist nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists, healthcare assistants and admin staff. Inpatient care is provided in ward 6D in Royal Victoria Hospital.

Outpatient clinics are provided daily in Level 6 Outpatient Department. Clinics include:

General hepatology clinics
Specialist liver transplant clinics
Viral hepatitis clinic
Outreach clinics

Ambulatory Service

A wide range of ambulatory services are provided in the Programmed Treatment Unit in the RVH. This includes day case paracentesis (fluid drainage) and liver biopsies.

Our service is supported by the Liver Support Group, a charity made up of volunteer liver patients and their carers providing support for patients with any liver condition across Northern Ireland.