Liver Diseases: Health Services
(asked on 7th February 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to tackle geographical variation in the (a) provision and (b) delivery of NHS liver treatment services.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Liver disease as a priority in the NHS Long Term Plan. A key priorities for the National Health Service in 2022/23 is to continue to develop the approach to population health management, prevent ill health and address health inequalities.
In autumn 2021, NHS England commissioned a health inequalities stocktake in relation to liver disease, which confirmed that geographical variation is seen in many indicators for risk factors, morbidity and mortality associated with liver disease. The Hepatobiliary Clinical Reference Group is reviewing the stocktake findings, which will help guide and inform priorities for action in 2022/23.
NHS England has prioritised the World Health Organisation (WHO) goal to eliminate Hepatitis C, a significant cause of end stage liver disease, as a public health issue in advance of the WHO 2030 target.