We are recognised as the NHS England specialised Rheumatology Centre or Connective Tissue Disease (CTD) and vasculitis in the northern region and provide specialised services, investigations and treatments for patients with rare and complex conditions.
With over 3000 patients under our care we are specialists in the recognition and management of:
Autoimmune rheumatic disorders
These include:
- systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE),
- antiphospholipid syndrome (APS),
- systemic sclerosis,
- primary Sjögren’s syndrome,
- inflammatory muscle disease (myositis) and
- overlap syndromes
Vasculitides
These include:
- Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis – GPA, formerly known as Wegener’s Granulomatosis)
- Microscopic Polyangiitis
- Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis – EGPA formerly known as Churg Strauss syndrome
- Polyarteritis nodosa
- Takayasu’s arteritis
- Henoch Schonlein purpura
- Cryoglobulinaemia
- Behçet’s syndrome and related disorders
- Rheumatoid vasculitis
- Giant cell arteritis (GCA)
- Hypocomplementaemic urticarial vasculitis
- Eosinophilic fasciitis, and
- Relapsing polychondritis
Specialised Rheumatology Centre
As an NHS England Specialised Rheumatology Centre for Connective Tissue Disease (CTD) and Vasculitis we provide:
A secondary and tertiary service
Transfer to tertiary (specialist) care is made without the patient having to be referred back to their GP. Tertiary involvement is required for the diagnosis, and management of rare conditions.
Treating high volumes of patients with appropriate training and expertise to ensure a sufficient level of specialism improves outcomes and patient experience.
A multidisciplinary team approach
Within rheumatology means we have well established links to other services with expertise in multi-system inflammatory disease eg. nephrology, respiratory, pulmonary hypertension, obstetrics, otorhinolaryngology, neurology, dermatology, vascular surgery and intensive care.
We hold monthly, dedicated pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung disease, medical obstetric and dermatology combined clinics.
We also hold multidisciplinary virtual team meetings to discuss complex cases and ratify the use of high cost drugs.
Specialist service
Newcastle is of the few centres in the UK to offer a dedicated primary Sjögren’s syndrome service with access to ophthalmology and oral medicine expertise in primary Sjögren’s syndrome within the same organisation.
Our services are predominantly outpatient based, with a smaller day-case component but with access to designated inpatient beds.
Safe delivery of biologics and cytotoxic infusions
These are provided on the ward or dedicated rheumatology day case unit, supported by clear guidelines, protocols and pathways for patient care.
An on-call service
These are run by a consultant rheumatologist and rheumatology specialist trainee for new and existing patients, and also rapid ‘open’ access via a connective tissue disease specialist nurse led advice-line for existing patients and a fast track GCA service.
Best practice
Current best practice management in areas where research and guidelines are limited.
Research
We integrate high quality research into our service and lead several national and international research studies.
Patients attending our service will have ample opportunities to be involved in research, ranging from entry onto national registries, basic science and experimental medicine studies to clinical trials.
The team
You can see a list of our Consultants who each have a special interest in CTD at the bottom of this page.
We also have two specialist CTD nurses:
- Julie Norris
- Karen Walker
Contact us
The Connective Tissue Disease advice line number for existing patients is:
Telephone: 0191 2331503
