Peninsula Health’s liver services are going from strength to strength under Head of Gastroenterology, Associate Professor Marcus Robertson.
“Over the last 15-months we’ve started a brand new service at the hospital for people with liver cancer. And we now offer every treatment available for liver cancer for patients in this area, which is fantastic,” he says.
In addition to the two new liver clinics which run each week, funding has also been acquired for two specialist nurses to coordinate liver services for patients.
“We have tried to establish our liver clinics to make them as state-of-the-art as possible, where patients attend a clinic that is specifically designed to manage their particular liver issue,” A/Prof Robertson explains. “It gives patients access to Hepatologists that have subspecialised in certain areas of liver disease who can provide expert care.”
According to A/Prof Robertson, expansion of liver services for the local area is vital.
“There’s a huge burden of undiagnosed liver disease in the community… alcohol is a major issue in Australia and indeed all over the world,” he explains. “And steatotic liver disease (previously called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) now affects 1-in-2 to 1-in-3 adults. It’s very, very common.”
A/Prof Robertson says that in addition to giving people access to the right screening tools and treatments, it’s essential for GPs in the area to know that they can now refer their liver patients to the local health service.
The key to the liver service’s swift expansion, according to A/Prof Robertson, is the support given by other Peninsula Health staff.
“We’ve had great support from our surgical and oncology colleagues, and our interventional radiology team have been absolutely amazing. This has enabled us to offer patients with both liver cancer and liver disease exceptional care and treatments that previously would have required transfer to other sites,” he says. “Overall, the support I’ve received from everybody at Peninsula Health has been incredible, which really has allowed the pace [of service expansion] to be much faster than I expected.”