Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve care and treatment for patients with hepatic encephalopathy.

NHS England, Public Health England (PHE) and the Department of Health are working jointly with stakeholders to make sure that patients with liver disease, including those who may develop hepatic encephalopathy, are supported. PHE is also working with stakeholders to develop a liver disease framework.

There are currently no plans to carry out a clinical audit into services for people with advanced liver disease for all causes. However, liver cancer outcomes for the specialised services which NHS England commissions are currently audited and a national audit of outcome dimensions for the treatment of hepatitis C will be established by NHS England in due course. In addition, PHE is working with the Lancet Commission on Liver Disease to use routine data to investigate elements of care for people with advanced liver disease.

We are also taking action to prevent people developing liver disease in the first place by tackling two of the main causes of liver disease – obesity and alcohol misuse. This includes:

- our Call to Action on Obesity, which sets out two national ambitions for a downward trend in level of excess weight in children and adults by 2020; and

- our Alcohol Strategy, which aims to cut the number of people drinking above the lower-risk guidelines.