Hundreds show their liver some love as people queue for free health checks

Hundreds of people chose to show their liver some love by attending a free liver health check event.

The Community Liver Health Team set up shop at Scunthorpe’s Ironstone Centre to offer free, four-minute liver scans to members of the public. The team was joined on the day by colleagues from the British Liver Trust, North Lincolnshire Council’s Healthy Lifestyle Team, and Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance, all of whom were on hand to offer support and healthy living advice.

Beth Featherstone, community liver specialist nurse, said: “We were really pleased with the number of people who came along. Over the course of the day, we had somewhere between 600 and 700 people through the doors, and word had clearly spread as we had about 20 or so waiting for us when we first arrived.

“The high number of people did lead to some queuing, which wasn’t ideal, but most people took it in good spirits and we’d really like to thank people for their patience and understanding. Through the fibroscans we performed on the day, we did pick up a number of people likely to have significant liver disease too, so hopefully we’ll now be able to get those people into our service and improve their long term health outcomes, which was really the main purpose of the event.

“Where it didn’t prove possible to scan people on the day, we took names and details so we could offer fixed appointments at a later date, as we didn’t want their enthusiasm to be lost. We took lots of positives away from the event, not least the fact that people are definitely keen and want to take an interest in their liver health, which is music to our ears.”

Early liver disease rarely causes symptoms. If caught early enough, there is potential for damage to be reversed, but if it goes undetected, it can lead to an emergency admission and/or longer-term health problems, including cancer.

Certain factors put some people at higher risk of liver disease, for example, if you have type 2 diabetes, you have a BMI of 30 or more, you have a fatty liver, Hepatitis B or C, or if you drink more than 14 units of alcohol each week. The Humber region is one of just 18 sites in the country to pilot the NHS Liver Health Check, based on its high levels of deprivation and poor health outcomes from liver disease.

The team will be looking to set up further community drop-in liver health check events in the near future. Keep an eye on social media for details.

Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe