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Rheumatology

- Helping patients through physiotherapy

Our rheumatology service can help diagnose and treat you if you have conditions affecting your joints, bones and muscles. It aims to help you regain the ability to live your life normally.

Patients are commonly referred into the service with inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and gout. Some of our work involves more complex autoimmune inflammatory disorders that may not necessarily cause joint pain, such as giant cell arthritis and other cases of vasculitis, or connective tissue diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus.

Your care

We like to see you as early as possible in your illness because we know that earlier treatment of inflammatory arthritis is the best way to minimise the risk of the illness progressing or causing complications.

You will be treated by a team that includes rheumatologists, specialist nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and podiatrists.

Clinics

Our consultants and specialist nurses hold clinics at Hexham, North Tyneside and Wansbeck general hospitals as well as at our community hospitals in Alnwick, Berwick, and Blyth and our outpatient clinics at Morpeth Cottage Hospital and Sir G.B. Hunter hospital in Wallsend.

North Tyneside General Hospital

We hold eight rheumatology clinics each week as well as a monthly clinic for adolescent patients with inflammatory arthritis.

We also hold specialist nurse clinics and four DMARD monitoring clinics including evening sessions.

Wansbeck General Hospital

We hold two rheumatology clinics each week as well as a weekly emergency clinic for patients that experience flare ups of the disease and need to be seen urgently.

We also hold specialist nurse clinics and DMARD monitoring clinics.

Hexham General Hospital

We hold four rheumatology clinics each week, as well as four specialist nurse clinics.

Berwick Infirmary

We hold one full day rheumatology clinic every two weeks, alongside our specialist nurses.

Alnwick Infirmary

We hold one full day rheumatology clinic every two weeks, alongside our specialist nurses.

Blyth Community Hospital

We hold one rheumatology clinic each week, alongside our specialist nurses.

Morpeth Cottage Hospital

We hold one rheumatology clinic each week, alongside our specialist nurses.

Sir GB Hunter, Wallsend

We hold one rheumatology clinic every two weeks, alongside our specialist nurses.

Some patients need to be monitored for a period of time so in addition to the clinics led by our consultants our nurses also hold clinics at all sites.

Bone density scanning

To investigate fracture risk and osteoporosis we use a DXA scanner. These are situated at North Tyneside hospital and a mobile scanner visits Hexham General Hospital and Berwick Infirmary. We have plans to roll this out across our other hospitals in Northumberland.

Your care

You will be seen by a consultant in one of our outpatient clinics where the cause of the joint pain will be investigated. It may be necessary for patients to have a blood test, x-ray or ultrasound.

Once a diagnosis has been reached, we are likely to recommend a package” of therapies including (but not limited to) more effective pain killers, steroid injections into affected joints, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and education. If you have foot problems you may be referred to the podiatrist.

Most disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs require regular monitoring with blood tests. Our nurses will carry these out for at least the first six months in our rheumatology nurse-led clinics. Your GP practice may take over monitoring after this period while maintaining close links with the rheumatology team at the hospital.

In the event joints can’t be treated medically, we work closely with our orthopedic surgeons to assess where surgery can help.

The team

Throughout your treatment you may be seen by a rheumatology consultant, rheumatology specialist nurses, rheumatology physiotherapists and rheumatology podiatrists. These teams hold clinics at our hospitals in North Tyneside and Northumberland and will see you in the hospital that is most convenient to you.

You will be seen by the team member that is most appropriate to deal with your specific problem. You will be under the overall care of a consultant but may at any time be seen by other members of the team.

Dr Andrea Myers has a particular interest in arthritis occurring in adolescents or young adults, and in helping patients transitioning from paediatric rheumatology services to adult rheumatology services.

Rheumatology consultants and doctors

Dr Matthew Grove, consultant rheumatologist and head of service.
Dr Andrea Myers, consultant rheumatologist and senior lecturer
Dr Ismael Atchia, consultant rheumatologist
Dr David Walker, consultant rheumatologist
Dr Fraser Birrell, consultant and honorary clinical senior lecturer in Rheumatology
Dr Suresh Adimulam, consultant rheumatologist
Dr Zahid Hussain, GP with specialist interest in rheumatology
Dr Janet Welsh, GP with special interest in rheumatology

Rheumatology specialist nurses

North Tyneside and Hexham