Micro-eliminating hepatitis C in Liverpool

With You, a national drug, alcohol and mental health support charity working across Liverpool, explains how they’re playing their part in micro-eliminating hepatitis C by the end of 2023.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection which can cause acute and chronic hepatitis. This can range in severity - some people become mildly unwell, while others develop lifelong illnesses, including liver cirrhosis and cancer, which can lead to death. Hepatitis C is a bloodborne virus and infections can occur through exposure to blood from unsafe injection practices, unsafe health care and injection drug use.

It is estimated that globally, 58 million people have the chronic hepatitis C virus infection and there are around 1.5 million new infections each year. While there is currently no effective vaccine against the virus, antiviral medicines can cure more than 95% of hepatitis C infections.

The World Health Organisation aims to eliminate hepatitis C as a major health threat by 2030, and NHS England have set the target to eliminate hepatitis C before 2025. With You, a drug, alcohol and mental health support charity working across Liverpool, have developed their own plans to meet NHS England’s target and micro-eliminate hepatitis C by 2023.

For With You and other members of the Hep C Drug Treatment Service Provider Forum, micro-elimination means:

• 100% of clients in structured

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treatment are offered a hepatitis C test

• 100% of those with a history of injecting have been tested

• 90% of current and previous injectors (at risk) have a hepatitis C test date within the last 12 months

• 90% of clients who’ve tested positive for hepatitis have commenced treatment

Across Liverpool, With You are running a number of schemes and initiatives to meet their micro-elimination target.

Sarah Humphreys, Head of Services for With You in Liverpool says:

“Micro-eliminating hepatitis C is one of our key priorities at With You - as a drug, alcohol and mental health support charity, we have a really important role in helping NHS England and the World Health Organisation to achieve their elimination goals.

“Every day, we come into contact with people who have a greater risk of being infected with hepatitis C, and by taking a number of simple yet incredibly effective steps, we can help to reduce the number of hepatitis C cases across Liverpool and increase local people’s health outcomes dramatically.

“Through careful analysis, we’re now better able to understand which of our clients are most at risk of hepatitis C. We can then identify who needs to be tested or referred for treatment as a priority, saving vital time for our clients.

“To support conversations with our clients, our hepatitis C specialists have been providing With You staff with

If you would like to partner with our IPS services, please speak to Sue Pridmore sue.pridmore@wearewithyou.org.uk or visit our website www.wearewithyou.org.uk hepatitis C and bloodborne virus training, which includes explaining what treatment and testing looks like. We know that some of our clients feel nervous about receiving tests, so our hepatitis specialists also offer With You staff with motivational interviewing training, so that our teams can empower our clients to make the best choices about their healthcare.

“We’re not the only organisation in Liverpool committed to micro-eliminating hepatitis C and we’re working with a number of partners to pool our professional knowledge and experiences so that we can better meet the needs of local people.

“For example, Liverpool’s Treating Hospital provides hepatitis C treatment, and through an initiative with them and the Hepatitis C Trust Peers, we’ve been able to better support our clients who’ve tested positive for hepatitis C and more effectively help them to engage with their treatment journey. We’ve also been working with the Treating Hospital and the Operational Delivery Network, an NHS service that oversees patient access to treatment, to provide a ‘liver health offer’. This offer includes us providing tests and fibro-scans to all of our clients this month to help aid timelier diagnoses .

“It’s been a lot of work, but we’re really proud of the progress that we’ve made and the positive impact that we’re having on the lives of people most at risk of hepatitis C across Liverpool city.”

For more information about With You Liverpool and the services they offer, please visit their website: www.wearewithyou.org.uk