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drinkanddrugsnews
| September 2012
Profile |
Andrew Langford
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
T
hree years ago the Department of Health warned that ‘without firm
action’, liver disease – already one of the top five causes of death – could
become Britain’s biggest killer ‘within ten to 20 years’ (
DDN
, 2
November 2009, page 5). Despite a commitment to minimum pricing,
many campaigning organisations feel that action remains some way off.
Andrew Langford has been chief executive of the British Liver Trust – the only
UK charity dedicated to helping people affected by liver disease – for just over a
year, following a distinguished career across the charity sector. Although liver
disease prevalence is rising, treatment and research are still under-funded and
awareness remains low, and the trust has widened its emphasis from working
with people with the disease to include prevention and early detection.
‘The remit is changing, and hopefully the financial support around that will
follow,’ he says. ‘But like all charities we’re affected by the recession – it’s very
much a hand-to-mouth existence.’
With its dedicated team of 20, the trust works closely with patients, medical
professionals and government to make sure that people get the best possible
support and care. It also funds research, operates a helpline and actively
campaigns, including to raise awareness of the stark health inequalities between
liver disease patients and those with other conditions. People dying from heart
disease are likely to live up to 20 years longer than those dying of liver disease,
something that government is beginning to take notice of, he says.
‘We’re certainly being listened to a lot more by the Department of Health.
Part of that is knowing who the right people are to talk to, and making sure we
choose who we fight our battles with. It’s the only disease where the average age
of death is decreasing year-on-year.’
That average age is now just 59, he points out. ‘One of the reasons is that it’s
no longer unusual to have a 25-year-old dying of alcohol-related liver disease,’ he
says, but while alcohol is a very significant factor, there are also issues like obesity
and blood-borne viruses.
‘It’s about making sure that all of those different arms of the Department of
Health are aware that all those, in different ways, can be a cause of liver disease.
A good example would be hepatitis B – awareness is so low in this country, and
we’re one of the only financially better-off countries that doesn’t have universal
vaccination. How come the rest of our affluent EU partners have introduced this
– surely we’re being negligent if we’re not following suit?’
Parliament is starting to listen to this argument, he says. ‘What I’ve been
saying is if we had a vaccination for HIV and weren’t using it, can you imagine
what the uproar would be? We have another blood-borne virus which has an
equal effect on people’s health and does lead to death, and we’re doing nothing
about it. The only people who get screened for hep B are pregnant women and I
think it’s important that we make a stand and say that’s not good enough.’
*****
While NICE is looking at ways to improve the uptake of hepatitis B and C testing
(
DDN
, July, page 5), it’s alcohol treatment that has long been known as the ‘poor
relation’ compared to drugs. Many hope that combining them under Public
Health England will improve matters but Langford is unconvinced.
‘I don’t think we’re spending enough on drug treatment, so alcohol is going to
be even worse – the economy will make it very difficult to have good drug and
alcohol services,’ he says. ‘The other thing is that we really do have to educate the
health and wellbeing boards, and particularly the directors of public health, to
have a far better understanding of why alcohol is equally as important as drugs. I
think – as with society as a whole – public health still don’t see alcohol as being
as big a problem as illicit drug use.’
Alongside other bodies, the trust walked away from the government’s alcohol
responsibility deal, saying that for too long campaigning organisations had been
persuaded to ‘play the long game’ – waiting for the industry to get its house in order
while it continued to cultivate its relationship with the government (
DDN
, March,
page 6). Although the government has since committed to minimum pricing, much
will depend on what influence the industry has on deciding that price, he stresses.
‘Along with others, we’re asking for a minimum of 50p per unit, and if I’m really
honest, for the British Liver Trust that’s incredibly conservative. We think to have a
true impact it would need to be far more in the region of 65p, but because of the
stranglehold the industry has that really would be pie-in-the-sky at the moment.’
*****
What about the role of the press in dictating policy – demanding action while
attacking anything that they see as nanny statism? ‘I still think that the press
focus an awful lot on the law and disorder problems of alcohol,’ he says. ‘It’s rare
that you see a quality article about the health effects, and quite often there’ll be
Vital func
As liver disease rates continue to rise – and the ages of those diagnosed
continue to fall –
David Gilliver
talks to British Liver Trust chief executive
Andrew Langford about awareness and taking on the drinks industry