Upper GI One Stop Clinic

A new ‘one-stop’ clinic for patients with suspected oesophageal or gastric cancer will assess patients and give them their results on the same day.

The new ground-breaking service at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) is the first of its kind in the country.

This new service will combine an assessment by the consultant and a transnasal endoscopy in the same appointment.

Patients who require a further CT scan will also have this carried out on the same day. Before the clinic was set up patients would need three separate visits to the hospital before results were presented.

The clinic was officially opened by NUH Chief Executive Tracy Taylor who said: “This is a wonderful service for people who may be showing the symptoms of oesophageal or gastric cancer as it speeds up the whole process.

“One of the biggest concerns for patients with suspected cancer symptoms is the wait between appointments, this service will reduce the wait whilst at the same time removing some of the stress and worry associated with the whole process.”

James Catton, Cancer Lead for NUH said: “This is a ground breaking process that has not been done anywhere in the country before and we are extremely proud to offer it to our patients. We can now streamline a patient’s cancer pathway and it helps us to get them treated within a 28 day period.

“The Transnasal endoscopy uses a very fine scope through the nose that allows a patient to sit upright and breathe normally and allows us to see the oesophagus and stomach where Upper GI cancer is found. It also has a significantly reduced recovery time.”

Following a pilot of the service where 122 patients took part, it was revealed that 95% of patients were found not have cancer. The 5% diagnosed with cancer were treated within cancer targets.

The one stop clinic currently runs one day a week but will soon be offered to patients on a Monday to Friday basis, meaning patients can have their first appointment within seven days of seeing a GP.