As we know, loving your liver is loving your entire health and well-being. However, as this day tells us, liver disease and liver cancer have lifelong impacts on sufferers’ lives. This day also highlights how liver cancer is increasingly affecting more lives, with it becoming the fastest cause of cancer deaths in the UK, with mortality rates almost doubling between 2010 and 2020. The problem is more concerning in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, with mortality rates being 50 per cent higher than the national average.

With liver cancer having the second-lowest survival rate in Wales it’s vital that the Welsh Government take action immediately to address this. Equally, the Welsh Government must take action to raise awareness of the causes and symptoms of this deadly cancer. Liver disease is the leading cause of liver cancer and it falls on individuals, organisations and the Government to be aware of what causes liver disease and how to prevent it causing unnecessary pain.

The risks of liver disease impact people in my own constituency at a 15 per cent higher rate than the rest of the country, and with Betsi Cadwaladr already under immense pressure, addressing liver disease and cancer will aid in relieving such pressures. In north Wales a resident was diagnosed aged just 45. He was not a drinker and was at a healthy weight. However, he’d developed cirrhosis due to a genetic liver condition and both his brother and father had died of liver-related complications. Despite this, he was removed from the liver cancer surveillance list for two years, despite the fact that he was of high risk. This is a reminder of the stress and anxiety that disruptions in care and the NHS can cause to the most needing of patients.

The functions of the liver are non-exhaustive in many ways, because liver functions include processing digested food from the intestine, controlling levels of fats, amino acid and glucose in the blood, combating infections, clearing the blood particles of infections, including bacteria, neutralising and destroying all drugs and toxins, manufacturing bile, storing iron, vitamins and other essential chemicals, breaking down food and turning it into energy—carbohydrates—manufacturing, breaking down and regulating numerous hormones, including sex hormones, and making enzymes and proteins that are responsible for most of the chemical reactions in the body, for example those involved in blood clotting and the repair of damaged tissues. It also plays a large part in our blood pressure as portal hypertension is controlled through the liver and the portal vein, which is a major vein that runs to the liver. The five major symptoms of portal hypertension can be blood in the vomit, blood in the stool, bloated stomach with rapid weight gain from fluid, oedema, which is swelling in your legs and feet, and mental confusion or disorientation. So, just a few examples, but all in all, a better liver is a better you, so support our motion this afternoon and let’s get this on the agenda. Thank you.