News

The IQILS accreditation scheme (Improving Quality in Liver Services) has now been operational for over a year. 2018 has been a busy year for the scheme, with 36 services registered to date.

A full list and map of those registered can be found on the website. Services across Wales, Northern Ireland and England are included in those registered. A few early bird discounts, available for smaller services, kindly supported by BASL, are still available. If your service would be interested in this, please get in touch at askiqils@rcplondon.ac.uk .

The second service training day for registered services is being held in London on 29 January 2019. The day is designed for services that would like to learn more about the accreditation standards and the accreditation process. For further information, please contact the team. 

Following an assessor training day held in September, the first batch of assessors have been recruited and trained. Wales is leading the way in improving liver services and with the help of an initiative funded by the Welsh government, with two peer review visits taking place in November 2018. The scheme is going from strength to strength and our hope is that we have more services registering with the scheme. Registration is open to all liver services across the UK.

For further information, please visit the IQILS website www.iqils.org  or email askiqils@rcplondon.ac.uk  .

Cancer Analyst for Analysis of the Epidemiology of Cholangiocarcinoma in England

Accountable to: AMMF/ PHE Senior Analyst
Hours: 37.5/week
Duration: One year fixed term
Location: Flexible across national bases but post holder must be able to travel to London on a regular basis
Pay Grade: £27,527 -­ £33,098 (+ London Weighting if appropriate)

AMMF is the UK’s only dedicated cholangiocarcinoma charity, and works closely with Cholangiocarcinoma-­UK (CCA-­UK), a multidisciplinary UK-­wide group interested in all facets of CCA and a Special Interest Group of BASL. AMMF is looking for a dedicated analyst with a strong statistical background and experience of routinely collected health data to work on an important epidemiological project on cholangiocarcinoma. This is an exciting opportunity to work on the most definitive study of cholangiocarcinoma epidemiology to date, in conjunction with AMMF, international experts in cholangiocarcinoma from Imperial College London and Public Health England’s (PHE) National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS).

Please email your CV together with a covering letter (max 500 words) to Helen Morement, CEO, AMMF at: helen@ammf.org.uk. For more information, please see:

Download CCA-Cancer Analyst Advert.pdf

Download CCA-Cancer-Analyst-Job Description_181018.pdf 

or visit AMMF’s website: http://ammf.org.uk/vacancies/. 

Closing date: 16 November 2018 at 5pm GMT

Interviews will be held w/c 3rd December 2018

Public Health England (PHE) has developed the first ever clinically validated whole genome sequencing test for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) as part of a global effort to eliminate HCV by 2025. PHE will be the first place in the UK to offer a clinically validated test which looks at both viral strain and resistance in one test. The previous test PHE used involved two separate processes, one which identifies the strain and another which identifies the virus’ resistance. The new combined test took over 5 years to develop and will halves the current HCV diagnosis period from 20 to 10 days. This enables clinicians to provide patients with quicker access to curative treatment plans, thus reducing complications of the disease. Clinicians will also see a £130 saving per test compared to the existing system. PHE hopes that as the first WGS test for viruses this will serve as a model for other viruses such as HIV.

You can find out more about requesting a test here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/antiviral-unit-avu-reference-services .

The link to the HCV testing request form can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hcv-genotypic-susceptibility-testing-request-form 

The purpose of HCC UK is to promote the professional collaboration in research, education and clinical service development for primary liver cancers. Its affiliation with BASL recognises the multi-disciplinary nature of collaboration in research and clinical practice needed to lead improvement in the quality of patient care. In particular, HCC-UK, through its committee, shall:

a)        Maintain a suite of educational activities across basic research and clinical practice relating to primary liver cancer in the UK, acknowledging the multi-disciplinary nature of UK practice and including scientists, specialist, generalist and trainee clinicians.

b)        Be a forum for sharing research initiatives, including the collection of material for national studies.

c)        Build links with other health professionals in primary care, gastroenterology, radiology, surgery and pathology, including development of referral pathways that provide equity of access to surveillance, diagnosis and treatment for patients with primary liver cancer throughout the UK.

d)        Develop guidelines to promote best practice. 

e)        Arrange an annual Business Meeting open to the full Group, to ensure that the formal organisational arrangements set out below are adhered to.

The HCC-UK committee meetings take place three to four times a year.

HCC-UK Committee positions

HCC-UK are seeking nominations for the committee positions set out below. Once elected, all post holders will serve for three years and may be re-elected for one further term:

Chair - will chair committee meetings

Secretary - will be responsible for running the administrative tasks pertaining to his/her function.

Conference & education lead

Basic science lead

Hepatology representative

Oncology representative

Surgery representative

Radiology representative

Pathology representative

Nursing representative

Nomination Process

Please send your nomination, clearly stating the relevant position that your nomination is for to the BASL Secretariat at Samantha@basl.org.uk by the deadline of 17:00 on Thursday 6 September 2018.

Candidates wishing to be considered for election should be a member of BASL HCC-UK, and will require one BASL HCC-UK member to propose them and a second to confirm their suitability for the role in writing.

If more than one candidate is nominated the Secretariat will arrange for an election of BASL HCC-UK members, in which all BASL members affiliated to HCC-UK may vote.  Should an election be required, candidates will need to submit a personal statement of up to 300 words. The successful candidate will be elected by a simple majority of those members voting.

If you need any more information, please contact Samantha@basl.org.uk.

Best regards

BASL Secretariat

Hepatitis C in the UK 2018 report - a copy of the report, press release, infographic and slide set can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deaths-from-hepatitis-c-have-fallen-by-11-per-cent-in-the-last-year .