National Liver Disease Strategy
Over the last decade, the Trust has relentlessly campaigned for a national strategy to tackle liver disease. This means a getting committment from the Government to act on liver disease by creating a strategy to improve services for patients as well as increasing awareness and education amongst healthcare professionals.
In October 2010, the Government announced that there would be a National Liver Disease Strategy (NDLS) and appointed Professor Martin Lombard as the Liver Czar to lead the work. The Trust welcomed welcomed the Government’s decision to commission a strategy and appoint a senior clinician to lead this work.
“Front-line clinicians and the NHS as a whole need support to tackle the complex causes and over 100 different types of liver disease. A national strategy is exactly the right prescription to help the two million people with or at risk of liver disease."
Read Department of Health press release
Read Trust press release
Since the announcement, the Trust has played a key role in feeding in to the Strategy, by ensuring patients' needs and views are fully represented. We want a strategy to improve services for people with liver conditions.
Last updated: March 2012
With the proposed NHS reforms it has meant that the NLDS is yet to be published. The Trust is continuing it's efforts to push for the Strategy to be released, however due to the re-configuration of the Department of Health and Primary Care Trusts, we are uncertain as to when it might be published. See our response below on the changed to the NHS.
There is still time to influence the NLDS and it could transform the future of NHS care for people with liver conditions. But which changes are most important to help improve care for patients?
How can we use national policy to help prevent people developing liver disease in the future?
It is vital that the strategy reflects the needs and priorities of patients and other people with experience of liver disease. We would like to hear from patients about their experiences.
Please give us your feedback by completing the form below:
National Liver Strategy Questionnaire
Please return this by email to liverstrategy@britishlivertrust.org.uk or send to Liver Strategy, British Liver Trust, 2 Southampton Rd, Ringwood, BH24 1HY.
Andrew Lansley has set out an ambitious and far-reaching agenda to put patient outcomes at the heart of NHS measures of success. He has set a strong direction of travel which will be challenging to achieve and is not without huge risks and equally huge opportunities to leverage better liver care for patients. The Trust has worked in conjunction with the British Association for the Study of the Liver and the British Society of Gastroenterology, the two leading clinical specialist groups for liver disease care in the UK, to respond to the overall consultation on the new framework for the NHS in the White Paper.
We welcome your comments; please e-mail me at info@britishlivertrust.org.uk
Read the response