Health minister needs to correct 'incurable' hepatitis C claim

Yesterday Easington MP Grahame Morris told the House of Commons that Health Minister Dan Poulter may have "inadvertently misled Parliament" by claiming that hepatitis C - which affects over 200,000 people in the UK and can lead to liver failure and cancer - can't be cured, when in fact it can.

The dispute relates to an exchange between the two that took place in November last year:

Grahame M. Morris: On the incidence of ill health in deprived areas, half of the people presenting to hospitals suffering from hepatitis C, which is completely treatable and curable, come from the poorest 20% and three quarters come from the poorest 40%. Is it not right that additional resources are provided to those poorest areas to tackle such diseases?

Dr Poulter: The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and that is why the Government have given local authorities the power to deal with sexual health services. He will be aware that a major cause of hepatitis C—for the record, it is not curable—

Grahame M. Morris: It is treatable.

Dr Poulter: Indeed, but it is not curable as the hon. Gentleman stated. He should get his facts right before making statements in the Chamber. It is not curable, but it is treatable and the best treatment is prevention

As Mr Morris pointed out yesterday, both NHS Choices and the Hepatitis C Trust point out that depending upon the strain with which a hepatitis C sufferer is infected, between 50% and 80% of cases may be curable through treatment.

We've contacted Dr Poulter's office to ask that this error is corrected.