News

The IQILS accreditation programme has grown significantly in the last 18 months. There has been a rapid increase in the level of engagement from services, committed to progressing with IQILS accreditation. The programme currently has 60 registered services, an increase of 8 services in 2021 alone. 11 services are currently signed off for the level 1 standards; A list of all these services can be found on the IQILS website. Three services will be undergoing a full accreditation assessment in the latter part of 2021.

The programme is also offering registered services, that are not an operational delivery hub for the Hepatitis C network, peer review support opportunities. The peer reviews are taking place remotely and will provide your service with an opportunity to receive feedback and guidance on how to progress with the accreditation standards.

In other news, Dragana Smith has recently been appointed as the new IQILS programme manager. Dragana previously worked as programme manager for the pulmonary rehabilitation accreditation programme, and prior to joining the Royal College of Physicians, worked in the fields of legal practice and medical education.

Registration to the programme is open to all liver services across the UK. If your service is interested in registering, please visit our website to sign up: https://www.iqils.org/UserRegistration/ 

Services registered to the programme receive access to the following benefits:
• The full accreditation standards
• Access to the IQILS website and self-assessment webtool
• Regular virtual training session on the accreditation process and standards
• Online repository of best practice templates and documents
• Regular newsletters on the programme with updates
• Support from the IQILS office team

Please contact the IQILS team at askiqils@rcp.ac.uk or 0203 3075 1508 if you would like to speak to the IQILS team about the programme.

Environmentally Sustainable Hepatology - It’s time to make a start.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has precipitated a rapid re-think of how medical services should be provided in the UK and around the world. This reconfiguring of services is happening in parallel to the run up to the G7 conference in Carbis Bay, Cornwall where Climate is a key item on the agenda. As well as this the UK is hosting the COP26 climate conference later this year, this pivotal meeting taking place at a time when key decisions and investments are being made as part of the recovery from the pandemic. There have been many pleas to place Climate, Planetary and Human Health at the centre of the pandemic recovery.

Over the last few years the majority of us will have noticed gradual steps towards a more sustainable future, in what we eat, how we travel and almost every other aspect of our lives. These changes include a move to a more environmentally sustainable future for healthcare. The NHS is leading this change internationally with plans underway to deliver the world’s first net zero healthcare system [1]. This transformation requires a rethink of every aspect of NHS practice from heating and lighting to changes to the NHS constitution. This transformation delivers the potential to maintain or improve quality of care whilst lessening our impact on the planetary systems and natural world on which we all rely.

"It is not enough for the NHS to treat the problems caused by air pollution and climate change - from asthma to heart attacks and strokes - we need to play our part in tackling them at source."
NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens

A number of specialities including Anaesthetics, Surgery and Nephrology are making progress with a move to more sustainable healthcare models, with help from organisation such as https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk . Our Gastroenterology colleagues are also making progress with the recent appointment of a Fellow in Sustainable Endoscopy and an expanding international coalition: ‘The Green Endoscopy Network’ (Twitter @GreenEndoscopy).

It is overdue for Hepatology to start a journey towards a more sustainable future rather than be left on the sidelines at this time.

What is Sustainable Healthcare?
A sustainable healthcare system is achieved by delivery high-quality care and improved public health without exhausting natural resources and living within the ecological boundaries of our planet.

The 4 main domains of sustainable healthcare are set out below adapted from Mortimer et al.

How do we make a start on Sustainable Hepatology?
Maybe the best way to start is by recognising that some current practices already fit within the sphere of sustainable hepatology within one of the domains above. For instance non-invasive assessment of hepatic fibrosis whether it be by ELF test or FibroScan represent low carbon modalities of assessing severity of liver disease. Other more sustainable practices underway, such as telephone and video appointments where appropriate, represent a change to lean services delivery and such practices should be embedded where appropriate and feasible. These may sound like small steps, however with an increasing burden of liver disease they are significant and represent a beginning.

Where else might Sustainable Hepatology lead and what might be the next steps?

The next step may be to consider embedding sustainability in quality improvement framework (SusQI) and into the outcomes of a service measured against environmental, economic, and social cost to determine its sustainability value. This framework was developed by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare with partners including the Royal College of Physicians [2]. This might lead to a new focus on healthcare preventive measures such as minimum unit pricing of alcohol or a greater focus on preventing metabolic liver disease both within childhood and adult services.

We might also consider:
• Form a multi-disciplinary group of interested others to define what Sustainable Hepatology should be.
• Consulting with https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk at an early stage.
• Educate ourselves, our association, colleagues, departments and others where appropriate on climate, health and liver disease.
• Incorporate talks on climate and sustainability into gastroenterology and hepatology training and relevant meetings.
• The principles of sustainable quality improvement (SusQI) have been developed by a group including the Royal College of Physicians. These principles could be incorporated into guideline development and quality improvement in Hepatology.
• Appoint Fellows in Sustainable Hepatology (as is taking place in Endoscopy, Anaesthetics, Surgery, Dentistry and Psychiatry).
• A move to more sustainable Hepatology conferences.

In our opinion it is time for hepatology to look to a more sustainable future and we welcome the thoughts and opinions of colleagues in the UK around the world as to how to make this happen.

Join BASL’s Sustainable Hepatology Working Group
BASL is committed to being an inclusive organisation, offering equal opportunity for members to be involved in the work of the association. If you are interested in being part of a working group to develop ideas for Sustainable Hepatology and work with others to promote thinking about this is our future research and service developments, please contact our lead, Dr William Stableforth, by emailing william.stableforth@nhs.net .

References
1. https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2020/10/delivering-a-net-zero-national-health-service.pdf 
2. https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/susqi

The Andy Burroughs Young Investigator Award was set up in honour of the late Professor Andrew Burroughs.

Professor Burroughs was an eminent and world renowned Professor of Hepatology and Consultant Physician/Hepatologist and among his many achievements including his wide area of expertise in cirrhosis and portal hypertension and significant contribution to liver Transplantation.

Eligibility
This prize is awarded to young investigators who have contributed to clinical or translational research related to liver disorders who are in training or within 2 years of taking up consultant positions (or equivalent); this year the winner will receive free registration to the meeting, an award and a prize of £1,000 and an invite to deliver the prize lecture and present their research at the BASL Annual Meeting.

To apply, please send one A4 sheet outlining the research and another A4 sheet listing up to 5 related publications.

Please send submissions to steve@basl.org.uk before the deadline of 09:00hrs on Monday 2nd August 2021

You must be a BASL member to apply.

Guts UK are delighted to announce that Guts UK/BSPGHAN Grants are now open.

Guts UK and the British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN) are passionate about supporting research into paediatric gastrointestinal, hepatological and nutritional disorders. Since 2010 we have joined forces to co-fund a biennial grant call.

Guts UK and BSPGHAN have just opened a new grant call to provide financial support for the collection of pilot or proof-of-concept data that will enable a high-quality competitive application to be made subsequently to a research council or other large funder.

Clinician and scientific investigators, including academic clinical lecturers, based at a UK university or hospital may apply. The principal applicant must have a contract of sufficient length to cover the duration of the research project and must have their salary guaranteed for the duration.

One grant, worth up to £40,000 is available for up to two years to fund direct costs associated with the project. Click here for further information.

The deadline is 1st June 2021. Please direct any queries to research@gutscharity.org.uk 

The arrival of vaccination for Covid-19 is a very welcome development, particularly after the heavy toll on patients and liver services in 2020. However, the efficacy, or potential for adverse events, of these vaccines in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) or post-liver transplantation (LT) remains unknown. Sub-optimal immune responses to vaccines are common in CLD and post-LT, and thus additional protective strategies may be necessary.

COBALT is a pan-European, large-scale, prospective observational cohort study designed to determine the real-world effectiveness and safety of vaccines for Covid-19 in CLD and post-LT. We invite centres to participate in this effort, co-ordinated by EF-CLIF: www.efclif.com .