We are thrilled to announce that our team has worked tirelessly to achieve micro-elimination!
Working with our NHS partners (of Cambridgeshire Hepatitis C Operational Delivery Network), The Hepatitis C Trust and Gilead Sciences, we have reached the following targets in our Cambridgeshire locality:
- 100% of people using the service have been offered a hepatitis C test
- 98% of people with a history of injecting have been tested
- 90% with current risk factors have been tested within the last 12 months
- 90% of people who were diagnosed with hepatitis C have been successfully linked into treatment
This is a fantastic achievement and an excellent example of collaborative working.
We would like to congratulate and say a huge thank you to the teams in our Cambridgeshire service with three localities (Cambridge, Huntingdon and Wisbech) involved
We would also like to say a huge thank you to all the other teams across the county including our Criminal Justice team, Family Safeguarding team, our HEaRT (Homeless Engagement and Recovery) team and STARS (Short Term Alcohol Reduction Service) team. They have all worked so incredibly hard to steer us to this amazing milestone.
The absolute dedication by this service has made such an enormous difference to lives of so many people accessing the service.
The background
Hepatitis C is one of the most common blood-borne viruses in the UK. If left untreated, the hepatitis C virus can cause serious and potentially life-threatening damage to the liver.
NHS England aims to eliminate Hepatitis C by 2025. Many drug treatment organisations, including ours, have been supporting the work towards these goals for the past several years. Drug treatment services have a set of criteria that underpin what we are striving to achieve in their area. The hepatitis C micro-elimination criteria are as follows:
- 100% of people using the service have been offered a hepatitis C test
- 100% of these people have then been tested
- 90% with current (or previous) risk factors have been tested within the last 12 months
- 90% of people who were diagnosed with hepatitis C have started treatment.
NHS England has set these targets to eliminate hepatitis C as a major health concern by 2025.