Children's hepatitis family clinic patient information

Find out what to expect when you come to hospital for your appointment at our children's hepatitis family clinic.

Before your appointment

Parents/legal guardians should attend all appointments with their child if they are under the age of 16. You are welcome to bring other relatives and young people are welcome to bring close friends for support.

There are no specific preparations before a routine outpatient appointment. However, if your attending for a FibroScan please fast for four hours before attending the clinic – this will be clearly stated in your appointment letter.

If you are attending the day surgery unit for a liver biopsy, the ward will specify fasting requirements depending on the type of anaesthetic and time of the procedure, please check your appointment letter.

If families have medical letters/blood results/vaccination histories from other hospitals it is helpful to bring these along. Mothers bringing their babies for testing are asked to bring their ‘red books’.

During your appointment

Waiting and appointment times will vary dependent on how busy the clinic is and the kind of appointment you are visiting us for. Your first appointment will be close to an hour and a half long.

For your first two to three visits after starting treatment you may be asked to wait for blood results before treatment is administered. Blood tests are carried out by the specialist children's phlebotomists in the paediatric outpatient department. Children can have local anaesthetic cream or "cold spray" in preparation for their blood tests.

Please note that we are a teaching hospital, so medical students may be present for some appointments. If you do not wish to have them in the room please let the nurse or doctor know and the students will be asked to step outside.

After your appointment

Patients will receive a letter within three to four weeks of their appointment. If another medical appointment is booked soon after tests/investigations have been carried out, the results may be discussed at this appointment, in other cases, the clinical nurse specialist will telephone families with the results.

When treatment is initiated, weekly visits are required for a month. Thereafter, visits are monthly provided the family are able to give the injections at home.