Gastroenterology - Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) - Royal Oldham, Fairfield Hospital [Bury], Rochdale Infirmary

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprising ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), are chronic, progressive inflammatory conditions affecting the gastrointestinal tract, characterised by a relapsing and remitting course.  The IBD service for Bury, Oldham and Rochdale is a nationally recognised Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Service to help you manage your condition.

There are estimated to be over 1 million people in the UK who are diagnosed with IBD, and the incidence and prevalence are increasing in the UK, and globally at an unprecedented rate. Within the Bury, Rochdale and Oldham region alone, there are over 5000 adult IBD patients and the number is increasing. IBD is a life-long condition and as specialists in the field, we aim to provide you with safe, consistent, and high-quality personalised care with our motto to provide 'exceptional care, without exception.'

The section of IBD is led by Professor Jimmy K. Limdi, a team of excellent specialist gastroenterology consultants, 6 IBD specialist nurses (led by Sister Jo Taylor), an IBD specialist pharmacist and a multidisciplinary team consisting of IBD surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, dietitians and clinical psychology.

What makes us special is the integration of science, translational research and clinical care aiming to go from bench to bedside and provide high quality care for all but also cutting-edge research opportunities ranging from quality of life, epidemiological and other patient centred research to novel treatments available at only selected centres in the country. Our research and unit led by Prof. Limdi has often ranked in the top 10 in England by the National Institute of Healthcare Research.

Specialist IBD Consultants (in order of “current” seniority)

  • Professor J.K. Limdi - Head, Section of IBD
  • Dr A. Bhandare (Locum)
  • Dr T. Barnes
  • Dr E Liu

Advanced IBD Fellow (selected annually)

Gastroenterology Consultants

  • Dr A. Abbasi
  • Dr A. Aboutwerat (Locum)
  • Dr M. Afzal
  • Dr W. Ahmed
  • Dr T. Algladi (Locum)
  • Dr S. Bala (Locum)
  • Dr A. Dawood
  • Dr R. George
  • Dr N. Iftikhar
  • Dr S. Khalid
  • Dr X. McFarlane
  • Dr R. Prudham
  • Dr M. Rumash (Locum)
  • Dr R. Sharma

IBD Specialist nurses

  • Sister Jo Taylor (Lead IBD Nurse)
  • Sr. Tasleem Ashiq
  • Sr Agigail Hartley
  • Sr Alison Meadows
  • Mr David McLaughlin

IBD Specialist Pharmacist

Ms Zara Rashid

Consultant Surgeons

  • Mr P Byrne
  • Mr K Siddiqui
  •  Mr T Rate

IBD Dietitian
Ms Angela Gemeliaris

Clinical Director for Gastroenterology
Dr X McFarlane

Gastroenterology Directorate Manager
Ms Janine Cartner

Asst Directorate Manager
Mrs Rebecca Mitchell

Directorate Support Manager
Ms Emma Martin

Outpatient clinics

  • Regular weekly (8-10) consultant led IBD clinics - face to face and telephone.
  • IBD nurse led clinics- 6 face to face and 2 telephone clinics every week.
  • IBD Pharmacist delivered education and explanation of treatments available.
  • Education on the condition for newly diagnosed IBD patients and their near and dear ones
  • Commencement and monitoring of IBD treatments.
  • Virtual biologics/advanced therapy clinic held biweekly to virtually monitor response to complex therapies to optimise safety and responsive care. We oversee the care of just over 800 people on advanced therapies for their IBD.
  • An IBD expert patient panel working collaboratively with the IBD team to continually assess and improve our patient centred service.
  • Clinical dietetic and clinical psychology support available as necessary.

Urgent Advice

  • IBD Flare line: for patients to contact the IBD Nurse Team for advice and initial management if they are experiencing symptoms of a flare. IBDFlareline@nca.nhs.uk ​​​​​​. This is operational between 7:30am – 1pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
  • Response times: Deterioration of symptoms up to 24 hours, Prescriptions - up to 48 hours, Admin- up to 7 days.
  • Emergency flares only can contact a phone line 0161 918 8579  - 7:30am -10:30am Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday - response time same day.
  • Rapid access clinic

Specialist Endoscopy

  • Endoscopic monitoring, post-operative assessment, cancer screening, pouch assessment and advanced endoscopic resection techniques
  • Rapid access endoscopy for urgent endoscopic assessment as necessary

Highly Specialised IBD services

  • Tertiary IBD Clinic led by Prof. J.K.Limdi and supported by Advanced Research and Clinical fellows, Higher Specialist trainee doctors, IBD Lead nurse Sister Taylor, held weekly and seeing complex referrals from within the hospital and external referrals from other hospitals all over the country.
  • IBD Research Centre offering high quality research opportunities for patients ranging from qualitative research, epidemiological studies to novel and cutting-edge treatments in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. Our research contributions have been consistently ranked among the top 10 in England by the National Institute of Healthcare Research
  • Preconception, pregnancy and IBD clinic (Prof. Limdi & Sister Taylor) with active collaboration with maternal medicine.
  • Adolescent and older persons with IBD

When visiting for the first time ensure you allow time in your journey to find a parking space and make sure you have change for the parking meters, if travelling on public transport check out bus timetables etc. You will be with us between 30-90mins.

At your first appointment you will undergo careful assessment through a history and examination as needed and a careful plan will be formulated for your assessment to include tests and additional investigations. In addition to the consultant team, you will often be offered an appointment with an IBD nurse to discuss your condition.

If you would like to bring a friend /partner or something to make notes to remember what is said, you are encouraged to do so.

We aspire to personalise your care and achieve the best possible outcomes for your condition.

We receive 80% of our referrals as secondary care but we are a tertiary referral unit, receiving referrals from other hospitals from the northwest of England and indeed nationwide for management of complex and treatment refractory IBD.

IBD Flare email: ibdflareline@nca.nhs.uk

Crohn’s & Colitis Society - http://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk

IBD Passport – http://www.ibdpassport.com

Crohn’s and Colitis UK (the new name for National Society for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease [NACC]) www.nacc.org.uk

Crohn’s in Childhood Research Association (CICRA) www.cicra.org

IA (The Ileostomy and Internal Pouch Support Group) www.iasupport.org

Colostomy Association (formally British Colostomy Association) www.colostomyassociation.org.uk

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