O15 Patient perspectives of virtual mental health nurse based within a hepatology department within a general hospital setting

<h3></h3> Liver disease is largely preventable with only approximately 5% of liver disease is attributable to autoimmune disorders (OHIED, 2023). People with the leading cause of cirrhosis, alcohol misuse, the lifetime prevalence of major depression to be nearly one quarter (24.3%) among alcohol dependent men and nearly one half (48.5%) among alcohol dependent women, exceeding the prevalence rates among individuals without Alcohol Use Disorder (Conner et al, 2009). In clinical samples, the lifetime rates of co-occurrence are greater still, ranging from 50 to 70% (Cornelius et al., 1995; Curran &amp; Booth, 1999; There is also an entwinement of the consequence of poor liver health on mental health. For non-cirrhotic patients, they have a 7.61% prevalence for depression, whereas, for liver cirrhosis patients, that percentage jumps to 23.93% (Abureesh M 2022). This is couple with another issue of non-engagement with alcohol treatment with the Public Accounts Committee (2023) reports a ‘staggering’ 82% of those 600,000 dependent drinkers in England not in treatment. However, this appears incongruent with the statistics that in the previous 12 months 40–70% of apparently non changing dependent drinkers are unhappy with their alcohol consumption and attempt to change their behaviour (Ward and Holmes,2014). Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust have therefore employed a mental health nurse to support and engage these patients in treatment. The sample was selected by those who have been referred to the mental health nurse by the hepatology team. The interventions were based on Alcohol Change UK’s Blue Light project approach (Ward and Holmes, 2014). The data was collected via audio recording from patient perspectives (with consent) of the post with the aim to share good practice. The simple question asked was: How has the role helped? The six audio recordings (with consent) will be played at the conference. This method has been chosen as often the emotive content of speech is often lost when transcribed. The aim is to share good practice and learn from those with lived experience from those who receive hepatology support.