Care closer to home is very much at the centre of the ambitions of the Network. A number of outreach clinics have been established across the region with consultants and nurse specialists from the Freeman Hospital.
See below for details on a clinic near you and what to expect during your appointment.
Newcastle consultants run a paediatric cardiology clinic, jointly with your local consultant, at Cumberland Infirmary on the first Friday of every month.
If your child has an appointment, they will be seen at the children's outpatient department which is on the first floor near the main entrance of the hospital. Please report to outpatient reception on arrival.
The hospital address is:
Cumberland Infirmary
Newtown Rd
Carlisle
CA2 7HY
How to get there - Please click for link
Hospital map - Please click for link
Neil Seller is the Newcastle cardiologist who will see you during your appointment. He runs the clinic jointly with a Children's Cardiac Nurse Specialist.
Newcastle consultants run a paediatric cardiology clinic, jointly with your local consultant, at the Treetops Unit at University Hospital of North Durham once a month on a Thursday.
If your child has an appointment, they will be seen in the outpatient department.
The hospital address is:
Treetops Unit
University Hospital North Durham
North Road
Durham
County Durham
DH1 5TW
How to get there - Please click for link
Our UHND page - Please click here
Tony Hermuzi is the Newcastle cardiologist who will see you during your appointment.
Dr Hermuzi may run clinics on other hospital sites at
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Newcastle consultants run an adult and paediatric cardiology clinic, jointly with your local consultant, at The James Cook University Hospital once a month.
Adults
Adult patients will be seen at the cardiothoracic outpatient department which is near the North entrance on the orange route. Please report to their reception on arrival.
Children
If your child has an appointment, they will be seen at the children's outpatient department which is near the South entrance on the yellow route. Please report to their reception on arrival.
The hospital address is:
The James Cook University Hospital,
Marton Road
Middlesbrough
TS4 3BW
How to get there - Please click for link
Hospital map - Please click for link
Adults
Justyna Rybicka is the Newcastle cardiologist who will see you during the your appointment. She runs the clinic jointly with Lorna Carruthers, Adult's Cardiac Nurse Specialist.
Children
Kaitav Adhvaryu is the Newcastle cardiologist who will see you during your appointment. He runs the clinic jointly with Debbie Lawson, the Children's Cardiac Nurse Specialist.
Newcastle consultants run an adult and paediatric cardiology clinic, jointly with your local consultant, at University Hospital of North Tees once every 7 weeks.
Adults
Adult patients will be seen at the cardiac investigations unit which is situated on the ground floor, behind main outpatients.
Children
If your child has an appointment, they will be seen at the children's outpatient department which is near the North wing of the hospital. Please report to their reception on arrival.
The hospital address is:
University Hospital of North Tees
Hardwick
Stockton on Tees
TS19 8PE
How to get there - Please click for link
Hospital map - Please click for link
Our UHNT page - Please click here
Adults
Katrijn Jansen is the Newcastle cardiologist who will see you during the your appointment. She runs the clinic jointly with cardiologist Helen Oxenham from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
Children
Abbas Khushnood is the Newcastle cardiologist who will see you during your appointment. He runs the clinic jointly with Debs Richardson, the Children's Cardiac Nurse Specialist.
Dr Khushnood also runs a joint clinic with Madhu Podalakur from from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
When you arrive at the hospital it is important to check in at the cardiothoracic reception desk, when you have answered a couple of simple questions you will be asked to sit in the waiting area.
The clinic staff will call your name, you will then have your blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturations, and weight recorded in kilograms. If it is your first appointment your height will also be recorded.
The clinic staff will then perform your ECG this is a tracing of your heart to look at the rhythms.
During your clinic visit you may also need an ECHO – this is where you have some jelly placed on your chest and a physiologist takes some scan pictures of your heart, we need lots of pictures to look at different angles of your heart. Sometimes you may have come the week before for your ECHO.
When it is time to see your consultant or nurse specialist, they will have all the above-mentioned information ready to look at.
You will be asked a series of questions about yourself and your medical history, if you take medication it is advisable to bring this list with you. All of these questions are relevant to you, your lifestyle and how we can help you manage your congenital condition in the best possible way.
The doctor or nurse specialist may examine you to check your heart sounds, heart rate and check you don’t have any extra fluid on board and your chest & lungs sounds ok. You can ask for a chaperone at anytime if it makes you feel more comfortable.
Your clinic appointment can take anywhere between 1-2hours due to all the investigations you need. We may also require swabs or bloods from you in clinic, but not everyone will need these.
At the end of your appointment, you will be given a sheet of paper to hand back to the front desk, this is so you can make an appointment for your next visit.
If at anytime you do not feel comfortable, or do not understand anything that has been said, please let your doctor or nurse specialist know and we can go through things in more detail.