New funding is to help the Scottish Hepatology Access Research Partnership (SHARP) develop research ideas to understand and improve access to liver services in Scotland, particularly for those isolated from specialist services.

As part of NHS Research Scotland, SHARP will research service delivery and care for Scots being treated in hepatology departments – managing conditions that affect the liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and the surrounding system of vessels, called the biliary tree.

The work of SHARP is being supported by funding designed to help build capacity and capability in liver disease research from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Speaking about attaining the funding, NHS Tayside’s Dr Ruairi Lynch, Consultant Hepatologist and joint lead applicant said this will help support patient experiences and innovation:

“We are delighted to have secured this support to develop an array of research ideas to improve liver services in Scotland. Potential areas of research might include finding out about people’s experience of contacting liver services and how it can be made better; finding new ways to detect and monitor liver disease without needing to travel to hospitals; and working out how to care for those who don’t have access to the internet.

“The inclusion of the British Liver Trust (BLT) is of particular importance to us at SHARP. Their role is not only to provide a patient’s view on the research ideas, but also to help design and deliver the studies. We hope that this partnership will lead to patient-led research that will deliver real change.”

NHS Research Scotland said the support to create and grow partnerships, networks and collaborations in liver disease research will likely lead to “high-quality proposals” for further NIHR-commissioned research next year.

The SHARP project looks to bring together specialists across liver disease and public health, general practitioners, social care services, charities and patient representatives from the BLT – who will form a Management Group – in its work.

This group will help develop and advance research ideas, while an Advisory Group will review these to ensure they focus on improving the carer of people with liver disease who are geographically or socially isolated and have difficulty engaging with specialist liver services.

Professor Ewan Forrest, NHS Research Scotland (NRS) Hepatology Clinical Lead and joint lead applicant, welcomed the “fantastic news” and explained:

“Many people with liver disease have trouble in seeing doctors and specialist medical services, and Scotland has a higher rate of deaths from liver disease than other parts of the UK, often related to deprived areas and areas isolated from medical services.

“That makes this research important for the Scottish population. Scotland is ideally placed to conduct this research with consistent links between Health Boards and social services, and very good electronic health records which can be accessed from the Safe Havens, make Scotland a very good setting too.”

While this newly funded project is based in Scotland only, the team says the work will apply to other areas of the UK which face similar challenges around people who require high-quality live services accessing liver doctors.

The SHARP project aims to start work soon in 2023 and will spend 15 months developing research ideas which will then be put forward in proposals for a secondary NIHR project call, to launch in early in 2024.

Read more: Aberdeen team to repurpose COVID test technology; Briefing: Cabinet Secretary plans for health and care; Scots women at the forefront of medical sciences; Radiotherapy optional for older breast cancer patients

Sign up to our bulletin for key health & social care updates straight to your inbox and you can follow healthandcare.scot on Google News.