Angel Narbey - Nurse Consultant in Liver Disease

Angela Narbey has been working in health care since 1985 when she qualified as a registered general nurse at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham

Angela started working with drug users in the early 90s in harm minimization and outreach work and in the areas of detox and rehabilitation. This work involved testing patients for hepatitis C from 1992 as part of a harm minimization program in London. As there was very little information at this time on disease progression and no treatment avenues as such she started helping to set up support groups.

In the mid 90s Angela went back into the NHS specializing in viral hepatitis at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and worked as a support nurse with David Lypni (the second hepatitis nurse specialist in the country) becoming a nurse specialist in 1999.

In 2003 Angela set up the liver clinic at Homerton University Hospital and in January 2006 was appointed nurse consultant in liver disease. Angela is passionate about high standards of care for patients and is currently working on expanding the team (of one) of the viral hepatitis service at the Homerton Hospital.

• founder member of the British Association for the Study of the Liver Nurses' Forum (BASLNF) which is affiliated to BASL
  
• as part of her role with BASLNF is currently looking at the possibility of developing competencies of Hepatology nurses to ensure a more uniform service country-wide
  
• co-wrote a course on hepatitis B for Masterclass (based at Greenwich University)
  
• technical author of The Health Tool HCV. This is a software application to assist healthcare professionals in primary and secondary care and is used as an educational tool and a referral pathway into specialist care for those at risk and newly diagnosed with HCV
  
• has written several articles for the nursing press on hepatitis
  
• is on the peer review panel of the Nursing Times and the Nursing Standard
  
• is completing a masters in medical ethics and law with a thesis about access to care, constraints of healthcare resources and using clinicians as gatekeepers damaging the doctor/patient relationship