Liz McInnes calls for urgent action on liver disease in Heywood and Middleton

Liz McInnes MP calls for urgent action on liver disease in Heywood and Middleton

Liz McInnes, MP for Heywood and Middleton, has welcomed work by the Lancet Commission on liver disease to help raise awareness of the increasing burden of liver disease in the UK and to call for improvements in its prevention and management.

Liver disease constitutes the third most common cause of premature death in the UK and this burden continues to rise, as do the costs associated with its management. Liver disease mortality rates have increased 400 per cent since 1970 and more than 1 million hospital admissions per year are a result of alcohol-related disorders.

Having received a full briefing on the burden of liver disease in Heywood and Middleton at the Lancet campaign launch recently, Ms McInnes pledged her support for urgent action to improve services for people with or at risk of developing liver disease, in line with the recommendations made by the Lancet Commission.

Ms McInnes said: “Liver disease is a major health challenge facing the NHS, and one that affects the lives of many people living in Heywood and Middleton. I was therefore interested to hear about the ways in which people with liver disease in my constituency could be better supported and about what more our local health service could do to help address unmet patient need in this area.”

“Over the coming weeks, I will be writing to NHS services in Heywood and Middleton to ask about their plans to address the local burden of liver disease in line with the recommendations made by the Lancet Commission.”

Professor Roger Williams, Director of the Foundation for Liver Research and Chairman of the Lancet Commission on Liver Disease, said: “We are grateful for Ms McInnes’s support.

"Two years ago the Lancet Commission on Liver Disease created a blueprint for improvement, supported by the clinical community. Yet we are still missing prioritisation, funding and drive to implement its recommendations. We urge the Government and the health service leadership to take immediate steps to halt and reverse the crisis in liver disease.”