INACCURACIES in the portrayal of a rare liver disease on ITV's Peak Practice caused distress to a number of sufferers throughout the country, including one who lives near Thirsk.

Mrs Gwen Webb, aged 56, from Baldersby St James, was diagnosed with the auto-immune liver disease primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in 1997, after suffering for four years.

About one person in 1,000 has PBC, mainly women. It is a systemic disease, affecting different people in different ways.

Mrs Webb has good days and bad days as she copes with aches and pains, including weak wrists which mean she cannot lift.

She also has to put up with itching, lethargy, and has to try to avoid certain foods which make her feel sick.

These symptoms come and go. As she is in stage one or two of the disease, which has four stages, she is able to keep it under control to some extent using drugs.

During an episode of Peak Practice , viewers watched as a man was diagnosed with the disease and told he had seven to ten years to live. This created panic and distress among sufferers up and down the country, and the PBC Foundation helpline went into meltdown.

Mrs Webb and her husband, Stewart, are co-ordinators of the local branch of the PBC Foundation, so know a little more about the disease than most.

Mr Webb said: "We do perhaps have access to more information and know more about the disease than anyone just diagnosed, so it didn't distress us too much, but my wife did say 'I wonder if they have told me everything'."

A spokesman for the PBC Foundation said: "Not everyone who gets PBC will die of PBC, and the time scale of seven to ten years was wrong as well, because we have someone who is 93 and has the disease.

"Although there is no cure, except for transplant which is not always successful, there is treatment available to control the disease.

"The programme caused real distress to people. One woman who contacted us is 34 and has two children and she basically thought she was going to die."

The programme makers have acknowledged their error, and aired an apology the following week. Anyone wanting more information about PBC should contact the PBC Foundation on 01875 853552.