• King's has a long history of specialist HPB surgery, developed in association with gastroenterology and hepatology, now a successful amalgamation of King's and the Guy's and St Thomas's campus, Joint Cancer Centre.

• King's was successfully peer reviewed as the Pancreatic Cancer Centre for South East London and implementation of Improving Outcomes Guidance is progressing in line with the local network agreed action plan.

• Specialist pancreatic cancer surgery has transferred from Guy's and St. Thomas to King's, as of October 2004, consolidating over 50 pancreatectomies per annum on the King's site. This further strengthens an established HPB surgical practice that has strong academic links and is recognised as a world leader in size and innovation.

• Four pancreatic surgeons work in partnership with a comprehensive multi-disciplinary team (MDT) (as defined by Improving Outcomes Guidance) Extensive interventional radiology, endoscopy and oncology services are all available on site, supported by dedicated access to superb HPB facilities of 2 wards, 2 theatres and a 15 bed intensive care unit. The Trust's commitment to the ongoing growth and development of HPB services has been demonstrated by the considerable increases in service capacity and infrastructure quality as achieved over the past 2 years.

• King's is the referral centre for pancreatic cancer for the South East London Cancer Network (SELCN) with a population of 1.5 million. The Kent and Medway Cancer Network (KMCN : population 1.4 million) has now formalised its agreement to refer its Pancreatic patients to King's College Hospital .

• Our vision is to work with local clinical teams to support local diagnosis and care, through providing ready access to the very highest level of clinical expertise and quality. We believe that patient care should be delivered locally wherever possible and would want to work with our partners in both SELCN & KMCN to further establish the communication, technology and outreach services that will enable us to minimise journeys to the centre and maximise use of local resources.

• King's is committed to improving patients' experiences of care and providing the highest quality, personalised support to patients and their families. Two experienced Clinical Nurse Specialists are central to the MDT and the Peer Review team praised their role reporting that 'the patients and their needs were understood and catered for'. We have an ongoing service development strategy that includes gathering feedback from patients on all aspects of their journeys through our care. For outpatient attendances and inpatient admission, King's is compliant with all cancer waiting time targets.

• King's is outside the congestion charging zone and easily accessible by road and rail for patients and staff traveling from within SELCN & KMCN. The local train station is Denmark Hill with regular direct trains to Kent towns including Orpington, Dartford and Sevenoaks. The catchment area for the HPB service at King's ensures that we are experienced in caring for patients and their families travelling long distances. The service has a dedicated patient hostel on the King's campus and maintains an approved list of local accommodation.

• 4 surgeons
• 1 hepatologist and 4 gastroenterologists
• 3 radiologists
• 2 onlcologists
• 3 histopathologists
• 3 clinical nurse specialists
• 1 palliative care consultant

either hpb@kingsch.nhs.uk or 020 7346 1778

Utilising proforma or clinical letter or both.

Imaging, if available must accompany referral - can be sent via PACS system, or if on disk or hard copy by urgent post / courier to :

A/o N. Jervis or D Brown
HPB Centralised Referral Office
Institute of Liver Studies
King's College Hospital
Denmark Hill
SE5 9RS