After suspending visiting earlier in the year, we are now able to offer limited visiting to some wards at the discretion of the nurse in-charge.”
Read more on visiting times...
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
After suspending visiting earlier in the year, we are now able to offer limited visiting to some wards at the discretion of the nurse in-charge.”
Read more on visiting times...
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
The Queen Alexandra Hospital is located just on the hill slopes of Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth. It is conveniently situated for both the M27 and A3M.
Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health. We are committed to the active involvement of family members, friends and carers during a hospital stay. Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health.
More information on visiting hospital for an appointment.
If you've had experience of using our services and would like to make a comment then please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Your views are very important to us and we would like to hear where you think improvements are needed or where things have gone so well that you would like to share your thanks or gratitude with the staff involved. When things have not gone so well then you can be sure that we want to hear from you, so please get in touch with PALS.
During your stay in hospital you will meet a number of different members of staff. All members of staff wear name badges, but if you are not sure who someone is or what they do, please feel free to ask them to introduce themselves and explain what they do.
If you have any questions about your treatment, please ask a doctor or a nurse.
There are lots of opportunities for you to get involved with the Trust, from volunteering to attending our public meetings, our Annual General Meeting or our hospital open day which is held every year.
We welcome and value your feedback and use the views you share with us in a number of ways to learn and make improvements as well as sharing best practice. Feedback can be provided in a number of ways.
Last updated: 24 May 2022
To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, our research support assistant Erin James wanted to share her journey into research through an apprenticeship.
She said: “I started my apprenticeship in the research department during September 2018 and completed it in July 2021. This was a degree apprenticeship, which involved me attending the University of Portsmouth once a fortnight to complete a Business Leadership and Management degree.
“I found this opportunity to be really engaging and beneficial to my career. My academic learning at university was enhanced by workplace experience in my research administration role. I loved being able to gain workplace experience and a salary, all while expanding my knowledge!
“After completing my apprenticeship, I have remained in the research department, taking on a research support assistant role.
“I now hope to continue my developing career within the clinical research sector, which is a career path I may never have considered or had the relevant experience for without my previous apprenticeship opportunity.
“I would recommend an apprenticeship to anyone who aspires to increase their qualifications while kick-starting their career in a new profession. There are so many exciting opportunities on offer!”
Dr Ben Giles: hepatology research fellow
Having recently been nominated for, and winning PHU’s junior doctor award for his outstanding contribution to education, research, and improvement, it’s been a whirlwind year for Dr Ben Giles, who joined the Hepatology Department as a clinical research fellow in August 2020.
Increasing rates of liver-related deaths in the UK, a lack of effective treatments in many areas of hepatology, as well as an interest in the specialty, first led to Ben getting involved in hepatology research:
“By gaining this invaluable experience I have been able to see first-hand the direct correlation between research and the positive impact it can have on treatments and patient outcomes.”
Despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic, Ben set up the UK's first national registry for people with Polycystic Liver Disease (PLD) which is currently being expanded to other sites across the UK. Ben’s work has also culminated in PHU becoming the first centre in the UK to complete data collection of over 100 patients in a national Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) audit. In addition, he carried out a controlled evaluation of the impact of the Portsmouth Liver Centre’s nurse-led decompensated cirrhosis service on patient outcomes. This highlighted the huge impact this service has in reducing unplanned hospital re-admissions and deaths in this high-risk patient group.
Over the past year, Ben has conducted a five-year review to evaluate ‘aMAP’, a scoring system to help predict hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for patients with cirrhosis - a leading cause of death in patients with chronic viral hepatitis and globally, the fourth most frequent cause of cancer-related death. Ben's study was the first evaluation of aMAP in an unselected UK population, and demonstrated that HCC patients have a "high risk" score up to five years before their presentation with cancer and was recently presented at the national UK-HCC conference. By identifying this risk in the early stages will potentially allow more focused surveillance of patients at higher risk.
During the second wave of Covid-19, Ben made an enormous contribution to the delivery of urgent Covid-19 therapy trials here in Portsmouth. He also worked on a project looking at the differences in severity of disease in patients with the B.1.1.7 (alpha or ‘Kent’) Covid-19 variant which was recently published.
“It is incredibly rewarding to see how research and collation of data can lead to successfully identifying new treatments for patients. It was a real honour recently to be involved with a particular patient’s discharge from hospital who had Covid-19. Had it not been for her receiving a new treatment for Covid-19 that we researched as part of the Recovery trial here in Portsmouth, she may have required admission to the intensive care unit and quite possibly have died.”
Ben’s links:
Publications: The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant and increased clinical severity-the jury is out.
Twitter: @BenGiles146
