After referral to the HPB MDT

Referral and first appointments

Your GP or hospital doctor will refer you to the HPB Cancer MDT along with any investigations done. These may include scans and, at times, biopsy results. These will be looked at, along with your case history, at the HBP Cancer MDT.

We may require further investigations before deciding on the best treatment plan for you.

We aim to discuss your case as soon as possible, but patients referred after 12.00 noon on a Friday are discussed the following week, to allow our Consultant Radiologist enough time to go over their scans carefully.

If a patient has already had a biopsy, we may also need time to examine this carefully under a microscope.

After the MDT discussion we will formulate a treatment plan for you, and either see you at the HPB Clinic or ask for further tests or investigations.

A Clinical Nurse Specialist will be your point of contact with the team, act as your key worker and maintain regular contact with you.

Further scans and tests

We will try to arrange any further scans or tests in Oxford on the same day as your clinic appointment, if at all possible. However, these may be arranged at your local hospital instead - your local doctor will contact you, if this is the case.

Clinics

We have dedicated clinics for suspected cancer patients.

HPB Clinic

Fridays 9.00am
Outpatients' Clinic, Cancer Centre,Churchill Hospital

The usual waiting time to be seen at the Liver Clinic, from time of referral, is one to two weeks. This can be longer if we are waiting for scan or biopsy results to guide treatment plans.

Each new patient sees a Consultant Surgeon or senior member of the surgical team for a consultation. There are five Consultant Surgeons within the Hepatobiliary team in Oxford, who work very closely together. You may meet more than one, and, depending on when your surgery is scheduled, your operating surgeon on the day may not always be the one you met. This way of working achieves excellent results no matter who your surgeon is.

We will discuss your diagnosis, stage of disease and treatment options. You will also meet a member of the Clinical Nurse Specialist team.

You may also see our specialist Dietitian and Physiotherapist, depending on your treatment plan. This can take from 45 minutes to two hours.

If surgery is appropriate, we will explain the procedure in detail to ensure you can give informed consent.

Pre-operation assessment

Please see Pre-operation Assessment Clinic.

This appointment is usually within one to two weeks of the date of surgery.

Pre-habilitation

The Clinical Nurse Specialist, specialist Dietitian and Physiotherapist will talk to you about improving your fitness and exercise reserve with advice regarding diet and physical activity. This emphasis on improving physical performance to achieve better treatment outcomes is known as pre-habilitation.

Surgery

Please see Surgery

Chemotherapy

Please see Chemotherapy

Palliative care

Please see Palliative care