A nurse from Ealing Hospital is behind an initiative that is helping more patients get important twice-yearly scans for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), an aggressive form of liver cancer that is one of the fasting rising cancers in the UK.
Ealing Hospital, which is part of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) is one of only two hospital trusts chosen to improve uptake of the scan after securing funding from the Royal Marsden Partners Cancer Alliance and using a structured surveillance model developed by Imperial College.
HCC is associated with increases in drinking alcohol, obesity and Hepatitis B which results in cirrhosis of the liver.
Katy Hyams, a clinical nurse specialist at Ealing Hospital explained how they supported more patients needing the twice-yearly scan. She said: ”It took some detective work going through patients records but our records went from 160 identifiable patients to 660 and our non-compliance rate has subsequently dropped from 84% to 20% in the past year.”
Nurse Hyams added: “An early diagnosis makes a huge difference as HCC is almost impossible to detect without an abdominal scan yet it’s very treatable if caught early.”
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