Lipid clinics at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are leading the way with a new holistic approach that includes both clinicians and clinical biochemists.
Lipid clinics are centres where you can get specialist help if you have raised blood fats, known as lipids. These clinics can help those who have high cholesterol or triglycerides or if they are at risk of developing heart disease.
A designated lipid clinic for the central Lancashire region has been developed in which clinical biochemists and clinicians are able to assess patients and develop a bespoke treatment plan based on their findings. The unique approach enables the team to streamline these patient services.
Clinical biochemists are responsible for advising clinicians on test interpretation to allow accurate patient diagnosis and treatment. Lipid clinics have not been formed in this way with the involvement of clinical biochemists before nationally. This means that the clinic is now made up of an integrated team who all play a direct role in improving patient care.
Rebecca Allcock and Shonagh Haslam are clinical scientists at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, and are the first in the country to undertake this ground breaking role.
Rebecca said: “The contribution that clinical biochemists make to lipid clinics is considerable. As a multi-disciplinary team we are improving the patient pathway for patients in Lancashire and many more of these patients are being successfully treated. We hope that this model can be adopted across the UK with similar success.”