See also: Referral to the Unit and the Intestinal Rehabilitation Newsletter Catalogue

Description of Service

The Lennard Jones Intestinal Rehabilitation Unit (IRU) at St Mark’s Hospital is a specialist centre dedicated to the assessment and management of patients with severe intestinal failure.

In 2021 the service became recognised as a National Reference Centre (NRC) for the management of severe intestinal failure.  It is an Integrated Care centre for the surgical and medical care of severe intestinal failure for the West London area, with extended responsibility for the Hertfordshire region and continuing responsibility for the Kent and East Surrey areas.  As a NRC patients can be seen at St Mark’s from outside these regions.

As an Integrated Care centre, we are proud to have joined with St George’s hospital to deliver care equally in the north and south parts of west London, as well as for the Kent and East Surrey areas.  This collaborative approach between the two hospitals will be to the benefit of patients, enabling us to optimise intestinal failure and home parenteral nutrition care in a wide area.

The IRU is supported by a multi-disciplinary team who offer a comprehensive approach to patients with intestinal failure receiving parenteral (feeding intravenously) or enteral (tube feeding) nutrition. The role of the team is to perform a nutritional assessment, design a nutrition regime, and address electrolyte/metabolic derangements whilst continuing to offer support for education and training with nutritional input.

“We strive to help patients with intestinal failure have an excellent quality of life”

What is Intestinal Failure?

Intestinal Failure is a rare condition in which:

• The small intestine is unable to digest and/or absorb the correct amount of nutrients
• The body is not able to reabsorb fluids produced by the intestine

These factors can therefore contribute to malnutrition and dehydration.

About the Unit

In 2020 the IRU moved from Northwick Park Hospital to Central Middlesex Hospital.  This occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling the service to continue on a “green” site.  St Mark’s also moved its service at this time and over the following year.   The Lennard Jones IRU consists of 20 beds which are made up with five bays and six single-side rooms. In keeping with the Trust and Dignity policy, we practice same-sex accommodation.

There are five large bays consisting of four beds in each bay. The side rooms are only used for screening and isolation. Once the screening process has been completed patients are moved into open bays.

Contact The Unit