The Brunel building has strict energy targets which have been achieved through maximising natural daylight through orientation, natural cooling, insulation and energy efficient heating and design.

There are specifically designed waste disposal holds for each ward to enable the segregation of waste by staff at source. We also have 3 food waste digesters on site to assist with the disposal of any food waste.

To reduce our surface water run- off, we have installed sustainable urban drainage systems ( SUDs) such as green roofs and therapy gardens to slow down rainwater leaving the site and causing localised flooding. We also collect rainwater from the Brunel roof and use it for irrigation.

The building includes bespoke catering facilities to prepare fresh meals on site everyday which has enabled the Catering department to achieve the Soil Association’s Catering Mark standard which recognises sustainable food sourcing such as organic, locally produced ingredients.

Landscaping on site includes the provision of over 700 trees and shrubs, which has resulted in recognition as an NHS Forest site. Additionally, a medicinal, culinary and sensory herb garden has been planted on the roof terrace which promotes bio-diversity and the health and wellbeing of staff through the use of organically grown herbs in staff and patient meals.

Alternative methods of reaching the Hospital other than driving in alone, is encouraged through the provision of additional bus stops outside the main entrance to the hospital, plus the provision of a bespoke cycle centre with secure bike parking for 600 staff bikes, and a car sharing scheme.

A system of robotic battery-powered vehicles is used to transport items around the Brunel building. The Swiss-log Transcar Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) system transports various payloads including waste, linen, food, supplies, sterile instruments, endoscopes and pharmacy items.

The vehicles only operate in designated areas which are primarily staff-only areas. They are equipped with several safety devices both visual and audible, to alert personnel that they are operational.

AGVs travel along ‘virtual’ tracks in the corridors and communicate with doors as required. They navigate by using infra-red laser scanners and comparing what they sense with an in-built map. They communicate their location and receive commands from a central computer on Level 0, operated by the Facilities team, over our secured WiFi.

The move to the Brunel building provided us the ideal opportunity to review our outpatient services and to see if there were ways we could improve it by taking advantage of the layout of the new building.

All outpatient clinics are on Level 1 leading off from the atrium and on the same level as the main entrance. Patients use the check-in kiosk in the atrium and wait in the designated areas.

There are 5 reception desks in the atrium for all outpatient clinics and the teams are located in fixed areas, so that patients become familiar with where they need to go for follow-up appointments. This also allows us to base staff in areas according to their speciality to make sure that the speciality knowledge is maintained.

Every outpatient area has a procedure room which has a fixed desk for administration and a clinical preparation and storage area to the opposite side of the room.

As these rooms enable more invasive procedures to take place, they have been designed with scrub troughs.

Consulting Rooms

Consulting rooms throughout the outpatient areas follow a standardised design and are flexible for use by all specialties. Every outpatient area has 8 consulting rooms.

All of these rooms have a standardised design and, with few exceptions, are all identical.

Every room we added to the design of the Brunel building increased the cost of the building, so we wanted to make sure that all the rooms we built would be well utilised. Traditional Anaesthetic rooms are used for about 5% to 10% of the day and hospitals in most countries in the world don’t have anaesthetic rooms. So, we decided to build our theatres without anaesthetic rooms.

Then we looked at admissions wards and recovery areas. Admission wards are very busy first thing in the morning when patients arrive and recovery areas are very busy later in the day when patients have had their surgery. Both areas have times in the day when they are very quiet. So why not combine those areas so that we have one department which is used throughout the day?

In the Brunel building there are 10 theatres on Level 2 and 14 theatres on Level 3, all have natural light ( 11 directly and 13 borrowed across a corridor). Each theatre suite has a set of single patient rooms called medirooms which are right next to the theatres. On average, there are 3 medirooms per theatre. We used computer modelling to test the timetable for the new theatres to ensure we always have enough medirooms available.

Medirooms have the same equipment as traditional recovery bays. Patients are admitted, prepared for surgery and recovered after surgery in  these rooms so they have a very short journey from the mediroom to theatre and back. This means much less time waiting for patients in theatre after they have been sent for. Patients having surgery only need to go to a bed on a ward if they have to be in hospital for a day or longer to recover.

The way we have designed theatres in the Brunel building, means that patients have a simpler journey in and out of theatres with a private room to prepare and recover in - a much nicer experience.

The Brunel building has 34 imaging rooms, including 4 MRI and 4 CT scanners.

The new facilities allow for more patients to be treated using interventional radiology where a full theatre suite is not required for their treatment.

There are 4 imaging rooms of this type.

Overall, the Brunel building increased the diagnostic capacity by 23% through a combination of better facilities, but primarily, better design and organisation to maximise the efficiency of these services.

Hospital at Home provides acute healthcare to patients in the comfort of their own home.

The service is delivered by our team of specially trained nurses who visit each patient in their home to deliver the care they need.

The Hospital at Home team work closely with each patient and their team of doctors and consultants to develop a personalised care plan that can be delivered at home. The team will schedule regular visits, daily or more frequently, dependent on individual need, to deliver the treatment and care required. Patients will also have access to advice and support outside of their visits.  

Whilst receiving treatment as part of the Hospital at Home service patients remain under the care of their hospital consultant, and are only discharged from us once they have completed their treatment programme.

Why feedback is important

We are passionate about listening to the feedback we receive from our patients and carers. It is vital to improving and guiding our services and helps maintain caring, exceptional and safe care.

The importance of feedback is not what is collected but what is done with it.

We respond to your feedback by listening to you, and then communicating with management, as well as clinical and non-clinical staff. We make changes, praise staff and investigate where we need to. This page is where we tell you what changes we have made in response to your feedback.

Doctors

Dr Robert Przemioslo
Dr Melanie Lockett
Dr Ana Terlevich
Dr Zeino Zeino
Dr Leonard Griffiths
Dr Sam Murray
Dr Ankur Srivastava
Dr James Maurice
Dr Vipin Gupta
Dr Susanna Meade
Dr Kathryn Wright

Physician Associate

Rebecca Noller

Nurse specialists

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Debbie Corris
Rebecca Antliff
Wendy Parry
Anna Serwicka

Liver

Katharine Caddick 
Lisa Lillywhite  
Erika Angeletti 

Alcohol Team

Sally Quigley 
Tracy Rogers 
Sandra Westwell  
Ryan Quinn 
Sarah Smyth - Peer Support Volunteer 
Paul Adams - Transplant Peer Support Volunteer 

Specialist Pharmacist 

Carla Leung

Dieticians

Bridie Watson

Management Team

Graham Bartlett - General Manager 
Abigail Warren - Specialty Manager 
Megan Smith - Support Manager 

Secretaries 

Abbie McDonnell  (Dr Zeino, Dr Meade)
Sally Bale (Dr. Griffiths, Dr. Terlevich)
Debra Heath (Dr. Murray, Dr. Lockett)
Joanne Hartry (Dr. Przemioslo, Dr. Srivastava)
Jana Mickova  (Dr. Maurice, Dr Gupta)

Administrative support team:

Sarah Fisher 
Karen Miles 
Alison Smallcombe 
Evelyn Fudge 
Yuko Pacey 

8A Ward Sister

Kate Mann 

Clinical Matron

Emma Gilchrist

Inpatient services 

If you attend hospital and are diagnosed with a gastrointestinal or liver condition, you may need to stay in ward 8A, which is where our specialist unit is located, in the Brunel Building, Green Tower, level 4. 

The ward is supported by a consultant and a team of 2-3 doctors, a registrar, and a physician associate. 

The Nursing Team is led by Sister Kate Mann. 

Visiting times are 11:00-19:00. Any other times outside these hours and you will need to speak to the Ward Manager. 

Ward phone Numbers: 0117 414 2155 and 0117 414 2156. 

 © North Bristol NHS Trust. This edition published April 2025. Review due April 2028. NBT003608. 

Gastroenterology and Liver Medicine (Hepatology) Outpatients

You might be invited to visit the department in these situations: 

• You have spoken to your GP, and they think you need to see a gastroenterologist.
• You have seen another hospital team, who believes you need further tests by a gastroenterologist.
• You have left hospital where you were diagnosed with a gastrointestinal condition. 

We have gastroenterology clinics led by consultants every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Some of the conditions we treat are: 

• Obscure stomach or bowel bleeding.
• Malabsorption.
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
• Chronic diarrhoea.
• Coeliac disease that has not responded to a gluten-free diet. 

There are special IBD nurse clinics on Monday, Tuesday (at Cossham hospital), Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  

We also have special dietitian clinics every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  

Your doctor, nurse, or GP can refer you to these clinics. 

Contact information

If you are known to have a form of IBD and are also under the Gastroenterology team at North Bristol Trust, you can contact the IBD specialist nurses for advice: ibdnurses@nbt.nhs.uk or 0117 414 6354 

North Bristol Liver Unit 

You might be invited to visit the liver unit if: 

• Your GP thinks you need to see a liver specialist.
• Another hospital team thinks you need more tests by a liver specialist.
• You've been diagnosed with a liver condition after leaving the hospital. 

Our liver clinic runs every Thursday and you may see different doctors from the team. You may also see liver nurses, alcohol specialists, a dietitian who specialises in liver care, and a technician who performs a test called a fibroscan. 

We work closely with the liver transplant team at King’s College Hospital in London. Every three months, we have a joint liver transplant clinic at Southmead Hospital with doctors from King’s College. 

We also have liver nurse clinics on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for patients with viral hepatitis or cirrhosis (scarring of the liver). 

If your liver disease is related to alcohol use, there is a clinic on Mondays for this. You might be referred by your doctor, nurse, or GP. This clinic is run by an alcohol specialist team and may include a fibroscan. 

Contact information

If you are already a patient at the liver unit, you can contact the liver nurse specialist for advice by emailing livernurses@nbt.nhs.uk or calling 0117 414 6466. 

Medical Day Unit 

You might be asked to attend this unit by your consultant, specialist nurse, or GP for treatments like  

• Blood transfusions. 
• Iron infusions.
• Paracentesis (a procedure to drain fluid from the abdomen due to liver disease), 
• Intravenous medications for treating IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). 

Once you have been referred, you can contact the unit directly at 0117 414 3200. 

Who do I contact if I have not heard about my appointment? 

Please contact the outpatient booking team in the first instance: 

0300 555 0103 or email OutpatientsContactCentre@nbt.nhs.uk 

© North Bristol NHS Trust. This edition published April 2025. Review due April 2028. NBT003609.