Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the potential costs of hepatitis C and the consequences of that disease to the NHS in the next 20 years.

Statistical modelling by Public Health England predicts that 15,840 individuals will be living with hepatitis C related cirrhosis or liver cancer in England in 2020, if left untreated. A published statistical estimate[1] suggests that over the next 30 years, the total healthcare costs of the infected population, assuming current levels of treatment, could be £4,680 million. That is why Public Health England and the National Health Service continue to promote the need for testing and treatment and are developing a long term strategy to address hepatitis C.

[1] Harris, R. J., Thomas, B., Griffiths, J., Costella, A., Chapman, R., Ramsay, M. E., Harris, H. E. (2014). Provision of care for patients with hepatitis C in England: future burden of HCV-related liver disease and impact of treatment under different scenarios. Journal of Hepatology, 61, 530–537.