New hospital consultant to treat Isle patients

Dr Adamantia Papageorgiou has worked at Scunthorpe as a locum for more than a year.

Her special interest is inflammatory bowel disease and patients who have special needs. She said: ““I enjoy being able to solve people’s problems, especially those with long-term illnesses, as I can give them a diagnosis and a way of coping.”

Born in Athens, Dr Papageorgiou underwent medical training at Italy’s Palermo University between 1977 and 1984 before completing specialist training at Athens University between 1990 and 1994.

She said: “My professor in Italy was a gastroenterologist and inspired me to do it. I would hate being confined to a laboratory as I could not tolerate not seeing or interacting with my patients.”

Dr Papageorgiou came to the UK in 2009 and has worked in hospitals in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Darlington as a locum consultant. She joined Scunthorpe hospital in September 2013 as a locum.

She said: “I really wanted to settle down here as this is a good hospital, with lots of good people working here. I can now contribute more and be involved in developing services for our patients.

“We need to ensure we focus on one thing and that is always our patients and what is in their best interests. We must always remember that they come first.”

She said the speciality is busy due to an ageing population. The national bowel screening programme for people aged over 65 has also seen more people wanting to rule out cancer.

As a gastroenterologist she cares for complaints such as indigestion, acid reflux, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, peptic ulcers, cancer of the colon, and long-standing inflammatory conditions of the intestines, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Dr Papageorgiou joins consultant gastroenterologists Dr Ahmed Dawood and Dr Prabhakar Mysore. They look after patients with problems associated with the whole of the gut – from the oesophagus to the colon, as well as the liver, pancreas and gall bladder. They see people in outpatient clinics, as well as inpatients and those needing an endoscopy.

Dr Papageorgiou currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and daughter, and in her spare time she enjoys writing poetry.