News

The tenure of a number of BASL Committee Posts will come to an end in September 2018. As such, BASL are now seeking expressions of interest for the following positions:

Research Committee Chair
The Research Committee Chair is elected by the membership to serve for a period of up to three years and may be re-elected once. The appointee is responsible for basic science and portfolio development. In addition to his/her role on the Governing Board, the Chair of the Research Committee will make specific recommendations to Governing Board regarding the program of the Annual Scientific Meeting. The BASL Special Interest Groups (SIGs) also report to the BASL Committee through the Research Lead who will co-ordinate this.

Educational and Training Councillor
There are two Educational and Training Councillors and one of the posts is up for election. The post is elected by the membership to serve for a period of four years and may be re-elected once. In addition to their role in the Governing Board, the Education and Training Councillors are responsible for Educational tasks as defined by the Governing Board, such as supporting the School of Hepatology.

Services Committee Chair
The Services Committee Chair is elected by the membership to serve for a period of up to three years and may be re-elected once. The Services Chair is commissioned by the Governing Board to support the development and implementation of Clinical Standards and the provision of Clinical Services, including preparation and delivery of advice to national health authorities concerning liver diseases.

President Elect – new post
BASL is also seeking expressions of interest for a new post that of The President Elect who is elected by the membership and will work with the BASL President from September 2018 and take up the role of President at the end of the Business Meeting of the Association in September 2019. The President is the Chairman of the Association and serves for two years and Chairs the Annual Scientific Meeting and the meetings of the Governing Board. Public Affairs are also managed by the President, who liaises closely with the Secretary and Treasurer, and other members of the Governing Board, as required.

Nomination Process
Please send your nominations, clearly stating the position that your nomination is for, to the BASL Secretariat at judy.hawksworth@execbs.com by the deadline of Friday 17:00 15th June 2018.

Candidates wishing to be considered for election will require one BASL member to propose them and a second BASL member to confirm their suitability for the role in writing. If more than one candidate is nominated, the Secretariat will arrange for an election of all members. He/she will be elected by simple majority of those members voting. A personal statement, containing no more than approx. 300 words, will be required from the candidate should an election need to take place. 

The newly elected posts will be announced at the next Business Meeting of the Association during BASL2018 in September.

If you need any more information, please do not hesitate to contact judy.hawksworth@execbs.com .

Best regards,
BASL Secretariat

The 100,000 genomes project will finish recruiting around September of this year.

There is a category for liver - ‘ductal plate malformation’ - which enables patients to be entered with any form of congenital liver disease including vascular.

Please liaise with your local clinical genetics department regarding any outstanding cases so that we can maximise numbers nationally.

Bill Griffiths
Consultant Hepatologist, Cambridge

Health, homelessness and children’s leaders have urged the government to implement minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol in England.

The calls come as MUP comes into effect in Scotland, where it is expected to reduce alcohol deaths and levels of alcohol-related harm, as well as cut crime and reduce costs to the health service.

Campaigners said that, following the roll out of MUP in Scotland, it is vital that England does not get left behind in terms of reducing the harm done by alcohol. Campaigners pointed to estimates which suggest that, if MUP in England were to be delayed by 5 years, over a thousand lives could be lost.

MUP works by setting a floor price below which a unit of alcohol cannot be sold. In Scotland, this floor price will be set at 50p per unit. This means that a pint of beer containing 2 units will now have to cost at least £1, and a bottle of wine containing 9 units will have to cost at least £4.50.
The measure is designed to increase the price of the cheapest, strongest drinks consumed by those experiencing the worst alcohol-related harms.

In practice, MUP will leave prices in pubs, bars and restaurants virtually untouched, and raise the price of products like supermarket own-brand vodka and super-strength lagers, which are typically consumed by the most vulnerable groups, such as children and street drinkers.
Moderate drinkers are estimated on average to barely change their consumption or spending in response to MUP.

In response to the introduction of MUP in Scotland, and commenting on the need for the measure in England, Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), said:

‘We congratulate the Scottish government on the introduction of minimum unit pricing. The Westminster government should now follow Scotland’s lead, and introduce MUP in England.

‘Cheap alcohol is wrecking lives and livelihoods in England as well as Scotland. There are more than 23,000 deaths a year in England due linked to alcohol, and many of these come from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society.

‘Minimum unit pricing will save lives, cut crime and benefit the public finances. At the same time, pub prices will be left untouched, and moderate drinkers will barely notice the difference under MUP.

‘Any delay in implementing MUP in England will only cost lives and lead to unnecessary alcohol-related harm. We urge the Westminster government to act now.’

About the Alcohol Health Alliance UK

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA) is a group of over 50 organisations and works together to:
- Highlight the rising levels of alcohol-related health harm
- Propose evidence-based solutions to reduce this harm
- Influence decision makers to take positive action to address the damage caused by alcohol misuse

For further information, please contact Matt Chorley, the AHA’s Policy and Communications Officer, at matt.chorley@rcplondon.ac.uk or on 0203 075 1726.

Over the last few years there has been increasing discussion about the role of early liver transplantation for patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis not responding to medical treatment. Although this is increasingly being considered in France and the US, uptake of a pilot study of liver transplantation for this condition in the UK over the last few years was extremely low. We are interested therefore to understand where UK clinicians who look after patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis see the role of early liver transplantation in this setting and would therefore be very grateful if you would be able to complete this Survey, which has been BASL endorsed, and should take only 2-3 minutes to complete.

Please find to follow the link to the survey - www.centralnhs.com .

Many thanks for your help

Katie Arndtz, Gastroenterology SpR
Alexander Gimson, Consultant Hepatologist
Michael Allison, Consultant Hepatologist

Public Health England (PHE) has recently published a recovery plan on gov.uk to support re-introduction of hepatitis B vaccine in a phased approach during 2018 for lower priority groups mainly vaccinated by occ health and primary care.

View a letter from PHE here:  Download PHE letter to stakeholders _hepB vaccine recovery plan 2018.pdf

The link to the recovery plan on the gov.uk website can be found > here.