New video is designed to help Welsh patients manage their liver condition with confidence and prevent it getting worse

Patients living with liver disease can now watch a new evidence-based NHS Wales video designed to help them make diet and exercise choices to self-manage cirrhosis and prevent the condition from getting worse.

Cirrhosis is scarring (fibrosis) of the liver caused by long-term liver damage. The scar tissue prevents the liver from working properly.

While there is no cure, the short five-minute video offers advice to patients on what and how to eat, exercise plans and maintaining a healthy weight. It aims to give people living with liver disease information to enable them to make informed decisions and improve the outcomes that matter to them. It offers links to useful material and information to viewers and builds on the model developed earlier in the year to support IBD patients manage their diet and condition. (link)

The video has been developed by specialist liver dieticians in Wales and funded by the Welsh Value in Health Centre, now part of the NHS Wales Executive.

It’s available in English and Welsh.

Claire Constantinou is the Strategic Lead Dietician at the University Hospital of Wales and is one of the specialists involved in the content of the video. Claire said: “Getting the right nutrition is essential if you have a diagnosis of liver disease. Be sure you're following the right advice to help you feel healthier and stronger when living with liver disease by watching this video developed with specialist liver dietitians in Wales.”

Senior Programme Lead for value in the Digital, Data, Technology, Innovation and Value directorate in the Executive, Sarah Puntoni said: “This video is part of our Person-Centred Care portfolio, a key part of our work in value in NHS Wales. Providing patients with specialist advice and information on living with liver disease but delivered in a straightforward way for everyone to understand, means we are helping give people the tools they need to help them go some way to self-managing their condition.”

Both videos are on Pocket Medic’s website and can be found here:  Your Liver - PocketMedic.org