Please note that the audit is now underway. The deadline for NHS Trusts to participate has passed.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore - BSG President
Professor Andrew Burroughs - BSG Vice-president Hepatology
Dr Steve Ryder - Chair BSG Liver Section Committee
Dr Vipul Jairath - Research Fellow in Gastroenterology NHS Blood and Transplant Oxford

Sample Data Collection Form

A sample of the finalised data collection form is available for download below so that you are able to gain an idea of the scale/type of data required for planning. Those performing the audit may wish to use the paper form to collect data prior to entering it onto the online system.

• Sample data collection form [ 65 kb ]

Further Information

• General guidance [ 114 kb ]
• Audit standards [ 45 kb ]
• Project protocol [ 154 kb ]
• Patient linkage record [ 38 kb ]
• Information governance policy [ 169 kb ]
• BSG members letter [ 709 kb ]
• Project flyer - An A4 poster that can be used locally to raise awareness of this project [ 84 kb ]

Burden of Liver Disease and Inequalities in the North West of England

Foreword

Liver disease causes approximately 2% of all deaths in England. While other major causes of death are falling, the number of people who die from liver disease is rising and younger age groups are disproportionately affected.

This report collates routinely available data on the burden of liver disease and describes its relationship with inequalities. We hope that it will be a useful resource for Directors of Public Health, health and wellbeing boards, commissioners and providers of services as well as others involved in or with an interest in liver disease. We realise that there are gaps in the information where data are not routinely available. However, we hope the report serves as an important baseline to measure progress on reducing ill health caused by liver disease.

The first dedicated survey of hepatitis C services in prisons in England shows that diagnosis and treatment for chronic hepatitis C infection is available to prisoners in most prisons in England, but that care models available vary between in-reach service and out-reach based services. The aim of the survey was to collect basic information on what type of services are provided in prisons for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of prisoners infected by hepatitis C. There are some positive indications emerging from the survey, the most important one being that hepatitis C diagnostic services are now being offered in all prisons except one. A previous generic survey carried out in 2007 showed only two thirds of prisons testing. The results of this survey details useful information for policy makers, commissioners and service providers on models of good practice for provision of diagnosis, treatment and care of people living with hepatitis C infection in prisons in England. Download Report on DoH website

The Caxton Foundation is a new charitable body, established as a result of the Coalition Government's 2010 review of the financial and other support available to those affected by the hepatitis C virus through medical treatment that used contaminated NHS blood or blood products.

The purpose of the Caxton Foundation is to support those infected and their families, where charitable need can be reasonably demonstrated. The Caxton Foundation is fully funded by Government.

• Further Information  [ 30 kb ]

- to reduce acute hospital admissions and improve quality of care

NHS Evidence provided by National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended a tried and tested initiative that reduces acute alcohol-related hospital admissions and readmissions as an important scheme to improve NHS quality and productivity. The case has been developed by the BSG, led by Dr Kieran Moriarty.

If each DGH establishes a 7-day Alcohol Specialist Nurse Service, together with an Assertive Outreach Alcohol Service to care for frequent hospital attenders and long-stay patients, for example those with alcohol-related liver disease, healthcare modelling methodology suggests that this could result in a 5% reduction in alcohol-related hospital admissions, with potential cost-savings to its locality of £1.6 million annually. Since the UK population in 2008 was 61.4 million, this would equate to an annual saving for the overall UK economy of £393 million.

An e-seminar took place on Tuesday 13 September and was chaired by Professor Martin Lombard, the Department of Health's National Clinical Director for Liver Disease. Participants heard about the initiative first hand from the author of the case study, Dr Kieran Moriarty CBE, Consultant Gastroenterologist at Royal Bolton Hospital and the BSG lead for alcohol services. His experiences of founding an 'Alcohol Care Team' and its effect on alcohol-related admissions are described in the presentation below:

Download Presentation     [ 1.15 Mb ]