Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the rate of liver disease in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) publishes Liver Disease profiles that compare local areas within England. Data for the prevalence of liver disease is not collected. The profiles provide liver disease mortality and hospital admissions rates for areas to assess their local level of disease.

The profiles do not publish data by constituency; however, the profile does publish data for local authorities. For St. Helens Metropolitan District Council, the rate of mortality during 2021 from liver disease was 31.3 (23.4 to 40.9) per 100,000 population aged under 75 years old. In 2021/22, the hospital admission rate due to liver disease was 196.8 (150.9 to 246.4) per 100,000 population across all ages.

For the North West region, the rate of mortality during 2021 from liver disease was 29.3 (28.0 to 30.7) per 100,000 population aged under 75 years old. The regional rate was significantly higher than the England mortality rate of 21.2 per 100,000 and was the highest regional rate in England. In 2021/22, the hospital admission rate due to liver disease was 160.6 (154.5 to 166.7) per 100,000 population across all ages in the North West region. The regional rate was significantly higher than the England hospital admission rate of 150.6 per 100,000 and was the fourth highest regional rate in England.