More people in West Cheshire and Ellesmere Port are finding out about the health of their liver earlier, thanks to the continued expansion of liver disease screening that’s being provided by the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
More than 800 people were offered a free liver health screening last year either in hospital or at community clinics, as the local NHS Trust continues to find new ways make healthcare more widely available to improve the health of the local community.
Screening as many people as possible is the best way to diagnose liver illnesses, because they often go unnoticed and can be too far progressed by the time symptoms appear. It’s also the best way to spot liver cirrhosis, which raises the risk of cancer.
Last year the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was able to significantly expand its screening service, with patients now able to benefit from the addition of the hand held fibro scan devices and community-based clinics, where the focus is on encouraging people to get scanned who are less likely to go to hospital and could be at a higher risk of illness.
When the FibroScans aren’t in use for patients, hospital staff have also had an opportunity to get checked themselves during specific staff clinic sessions, which proved incredibly popular. During an awareness week that focused on staff wellbeing last year, 85 staff were scanned, and one in ten were found to potentially have previously unknown liver fibrosis and were referred for further investigations, possibly preventing severe illness for them too.
And the service continues to grow, with plans in place that will ensure at least another 1,000 people will get a scan this year. The plans include working more closely with large local employers to hold events for their staff following a successful pilot recently with Airbus. There will be more outreach within the hospital Trust’s local communities to reach those who are most vulnerable and at risk of liver disease, such as using the hospital Trust’s new Mobile Research Unit to host community sessions and the new drop-in liver health clinics held every month at St Werburgh’s GP practice for people who are homeless.
