Scope

This Lead and Inform Clinical Reference Group (CRG) covers:

• The management of people with serious complications of cirrhosis (about 3,000 cases each year).
• Services for people with complex liver, biliary and pancreatic surgery (about 5,000 cases each year).
• This CRG works with the infectious diseases CRG on services for Hepatitis C (about 10,000 treatments each year).
• This CRG will work closely with the Cancer Programme of Care regarding surgery for HPB cancers.

Membership

• Chair: Dr Richard Aspinall, National Speciality Advisor
• Yasmin Stammers, Lead Commissioner
• Paula Ghaneh, Clinical Member
• Ajith Siriwardena, Clinical Member
• Douglas Thorburn, Clinical Member
• Sital Shah, Pharmacy member
• Angeline Walker, Public Health Lead
• Eric Martlew, Patient and Public Voice representative
• Robert Mitchell-Thain, Patient and Public Voice representative
• Patient and Public Voice representative – TBA

Affiliates

• Rebecca Jones, British Association for the Study of the Liver
• Dr Lynsey Corless, British Society of Gastroenterology
• Dr Coral Hollywood, British Society of Gastroenterology

Products

A key part of the CRG’s work is the delivery of the ‘products’ of commissioning. These are the tools used by the 10 Hub Commissioning Teams to contract services on an annual basis.

Service specifications

Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. The specifications have been developed by specialised clinicians, commissioners, expert patients and public health representatives to describe both core and developmental service standards. Core standards are those that all funded providers should be able to demonstrate, with developmental standards being those which may require further changes in practice over time to provide excellence in the field.

The following service specifications fall within the scope of this CRG:

• Operational delivery networks for hepatitis C care (adult)
• Heptobiliary and pancreas (adult)
• Live liver transplant (adult)
• Liver transplantation service (adults)

Policies

Policy statements are brief documents that define the current commissioning position to support service contracting.

The following policy statements fall within the scope of this CRG:

Commissioned:

• Total pancreatectomy with islet auto transplant for chronic pancreatitis (adults)
• Treatment of chronic hepatitis-c in patients with cirrhosis
• Retreatment of chronic hepatitis-C infection in adults with advanced or decompensated cirrhosis

Not routinely commissioned:

• Chemosaturation for liver metastases from ocular melanomas

Policy statements

• Reimbursement of expenses for living donors

Get involved

If you are interested in the work of the internal medicine NPOC or its CRGs, you can register as a stakeholder.  For details on our latest consultations please visit NHS England » Consultations

Get in contact

For any questions or queries relating to the work of the internal medicine NPOC or any or its CRGs, please contact: england.npoc-internalmedicine@nhs.net