Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of patient care pathways for the early detection of liver disease in England by (a) region and (b) integrated care system.

No specific assessment has been made. However, in 2021, NHS England commissioned a stocktake of health inequalities in liver disease and the relevant care pathways, which recognised the association of regional variation with many risk factors, morbidity and mortality.

The Hepatobiliary Clinical Reference Group is reviewing the findings of this stocktake, which will inform priorities for action in 2022/23. NHS England is developing a policy on screening and treatment of patients commencing chemotherapy who may be unaware they are living with hepatitis B. The hepatitis C programme has reduced the prevalence of the disease through identifying patients in the community in a range of settings.