Providing the best care and treatments for patients with gallstones

Harrogate Gallstones is a specialist provider of healthcare for patients from Harrogate and the surrounding areas of North Yorkshire who suffer from gallstones and their related disorders.

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Specialist provider of care for patients with Gallstones and related disorders from Harrogate and the surrounding areas of North Yorkshire.

Gallstones are a common problem that in most cases do not cause any symptoms, but can cause discomfort in the upper abdomen, often associated with nausea and indigestion.

However, gallstones can also be the source of more serious, and sometimes life-threatening, complications including inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis), bile duct (cholangitis) and pancreas (pancreatitis) as well as jaundice.

Our aim at Harrogate Gallstones is to provide the best care and treatments for patients with gallstone related disorders so that they can return to full health as quickly as possible and prevent future problems from arising.

Gallstones and related disorders

What are gallstones?

Gallstones are small stones that form in the gallbladder, most commonly as a consequence of fat (cholesterol) or bile pigment (bilirubin) saturation in the blood, or sometimes because of inactivity of the gallbladder. They are more common in women and their occurrence increases with age.

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What does the gallbladder do?

The gallbladder is a small pouch-like organ, that sits in the right upper portion of the tummy(abdomen) in immediate proximity to the liver, and stores the bile in the gallbladder in readiness for use during the digestion of food.

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What problems can arise from gallstones?

Gallstones are most often ‘silent’ in nature and exist without any symptoms. However, they can cause discomfort in the upper abdomen (biliary colic), along with nausea and indigestion. Gallstones can also be the source of more serious symptoms with severe pain and vomiting which arise due to inflammation of:

  • the gallbladder (cholecystitis), where the stones irritate the gallbladder and can get lodged in its mouth;
  • the bile duct (cholangitis), where the gallstones have exited the gallbladder and may cause a blockage leading to jaundice;
  • the pancreas (pancreatitis), most often caused by smaller stones that temporarily block the pancreatic duct and aggravate the pancreas along their journey into the bowel.
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What problems can arise from gallstones?

How can gallstones be treated?

When symptoms occur, gallstones usually require treatment and this is most commonly in the form of surgery to remove the gallbladder and the gallstones within it. Surgery is usually performed using a ‘key-hole’ (laparoscopic) technique but may need to be performed with a more ‘traditional’ open approach. For some patients who experience jaundice, cholangitis, or pancreatitis a camera procedure (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography [ERCP]) may need to be performed prior to surgery or can sometimes be a sufficient treatment alone.

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How can gallstones be treated?

What are the risks of surgery for gallstones?

There is no treatment without risk, and for each individual patient the risks and benefits of surgery must be balanced. Where surgery is a treatment option being considered, patients receive full and personalised counselling as well as a information leaflet for further reading.

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What are the risks of surgery for gallstones?

Mr Iestyn Shapey

BMedSc (Healthcare Ethics and Law), MBChB, MSc (Distinction), PhD, FRCS, LRSM

Iestyn Shapey is a specialist in Pancreatic, Biliary and General Surgery and also practices as an NHS consultant at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds. He underwent surgical training in the North-West of England which included several years of training at both the hepato-pancreato-biliary unit and pancreatic transplant unit in Manchester, as well as a year of dedicated sub-specialist training in pancreato-biliary surgery in Liverpool.

He concluded his formal training at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre with fellowship funding awarded jointly by the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and Pancreatic Cancer UK. The focus of his time in Amsterdam was robotic pancreatic surgery, locally advanced pancreatic cancer surgery and pancreatic research.

Mr Shapey graduated from the University of Birmingham with degrees in Healthcare Ethics and Law (2006) as well as Medicine and Surgery (2008). Here, he received the Sir Arthur Thompson scholarship to support his work leading to a thesis on the ethico-legal basis of user-fees for patients attending state funded and non-governmental organisation funded hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thereafter, Mr Shapey was awarded the Prieskel prize by the Royal College of Surgeons of England to support his further study of trauma surgery at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg(2007).

As a post-graduate, Mr Shapey studied for a Masters degree in Surgical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh which was awarded with Distinction(2011). As the highest scoring student in his year, he was also awarded the Lister medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for his work on Liver and Kidney Transplantation. In 2016, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh funded his pioneering work in pancreatic and islet transplantation, which led to further substantial funding in the form of a Clinical Research Training Fellowship from the Medical Research Council (2017).

Mr Shapey’s work on determining the optimal selection processes for pancreatic transplantation through the use of clinical data on metabolic and glycaemic control in combination with liquid biopsies was awarded the Norman Tanner medal by the Royal Society of Medicine (2017), a PhD from the University of Manchester (2019) and the Syme Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2021). His work has been widely published in peer reviewed academic journals.

Now, as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds, Mr Shapey is applying his knowledge of metabolism, glycaemic control and liquid biopsies to all aspects of pancreatic disease including cancer, pancreatitis and diabetes.

Our patients say

Dear Mr Shapey, I would just like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks for your expertise in carrying out my procedure. For the amazing success, quick recovery and fantastic results. Thank you also for seeing me so quickly and arranging my operation with great speed. I am so very grateful.
Mr Shapey, I just want to say a huge thank you to you and all your team. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I got over the surgery – you must be good! Carry on with the excellent work.
Dear Mr Shapey, Just a note to express appreciation for the excellent surgery and aftercare that I have benefitted from. The speed of my recovery bears testimony to this.

Ready to find relief from the symptoms of gallstones?

Get in touch for expert guidance and personalised care. Don’t let gallstones hold you back any longer.

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