Hundreds of patients have been diagnosed with liver disease in what is believed to be the world’s first NHS mass screening pilot.

The £1.4 million Somerset project analyzed the blood of 700,000 people aged over 18 for markers of liver disease and identified around 700 patients with problems.

The new tool analyzes historical medical data to identify people at risk of developing problems, then they are called in for analysis before symptoms appear.

Brian McHugh, 70, from Taunton, was one of the patients identified and said it was “better to find out sooner rather than later”.

Chronic liver diseases usually progress without symptoms, which means that often the first time people see a doctor is in an emergency situation when treatment options are limited.

Delayed detection of chronic liver disease increases the risk of complications such as liver cancer, liver failure and the need for transplants.

Dr Tim Jobson, who helped develop the new screening tool, said: “The pattern that suggests in five or ten years they will have a problem – we can see them now.

“We can see them early, we can treat them or they can make lifestyle changes, whatever they need to do to not have advanced liver disease.

“This includes liver disease due to viral diseases, hereditary problems, immune diseases as well as the more common diseases such as fatty liver and alcohol.”

The new tool was developed after Dr Jobson, a liver consultant in Taunton, shared his concerns about undiagnosed liver disease with a healthcare IT expert in 2019.

They teamed up with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and secured funding from the National Institute of Health Research to create a solution, which resulted in the launch of Predictive Health Intelligence (PHI), a company part-owned by the NHS.

PHI then developed hepatoSIGHT, a case finding tool designed to leverage the vast amounts of historical medical data accumulated over decades.

The tool is used by Somerset Trust clinicians to find people who may be at risk of liver disease, based on their historical test results.

Once a cohort of patients is identified by the clinical team, the Trust writes to them to invite them for a liver health check, meaning they can receive treatment sooner.

Mr McHugh said he was perplexed to receive a letter out of the blue as he had “no symptoms”.

Two weeks later, Mr McHugh had an appointment for an ultrasound and was eventually diagnosed with primary biliary cholangitis, an autoimmune liver disease.

It can be treated with medication to avoid a transplant.

The 70-year-old said: “At first I was a little worried. It seemed like there was something wrong health-wise, but I was keen to follow it up and find out what we were dealing with.

“I’m sure it would be something that would have come to light later with much more serious health implications.

“How long it might have taken, I don’t know.

“It was better to find out as soon as possible.”

Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy of the British Liver Trust described the screening as “interesting”.

He added: “The fact that it’s automated is a big advantage.

“Obviously it always depends on who has had blood tests, so it may be that those who haven’t had them could miss out.

“But it is undeniable that because liver disease has no symptoms, there needs to be some form of screening. We will only see the benefits in the long term.”

“This is the first iteration of hopefully more sophisticated systems coming downstream.”

PHI is in discussions about further deployments of hepatoSIGHT, with the intention of extending its coverage to the entire population of South West England.

Dr Jobson added: “Adoption across the NHS would of course be what we are aiming for as it has the capacity to impact many thousands of patients across the NHS.

“The data is already there, it’s just a matter of finding those patients.”