Award-winning project marks World Hepatitis Day
A ground-breaking project to eliminate a deadly virus in Devon has received a national award.
Addaction’s hepatitis C work has received national recognition by The Communique Awards, which look for initiatives that lead to real improvements in healthcare locally and internationally.
Addaction is the lead partner in the local drug and alcohol partnership RISE Recovery. With The Hepatitis C Trust, Addaction formed the project to bust the myths, misconceptions and stigma surrounding hepatitis C and encourage people at risk through injecting drugs to be tested and consider treatment.
As part of the work, a pioneering staff training programme upskilled front-line workers, while an inspiring peer-to-peer support system encouraged people to get treated.
Targeted communications to showcase the initiative helped to secure endorsement from local healthcare professionals and commissioners and drew plaudits from local politicians.
Addaction, the UK’s leading drugs and alcohol charity, launched the project, funded by global pharmaceuticals company Abbvie, with the aim of increasing testing and treatment for hepatitis C to a point where it will effectively be eradicated from communities.
Hepatitis C is vastly more infectious than HIV and is the most prevalent blood borne virus in the UK. Yet, alarmingly, it remains undiagnosed in the vast majority of cases and disproportionately affects marginalised people, with injecting drug users at greatest risk.
* To mark World Hepatitis Day on July 28, Addaction is also calling for an urgent review of an NHS decision to ration clinically proven treatments to just 10,000 people with the virus per year, which it says is “manifestly unjust” and a “potential death sentence for thousands of people”.
It says that it was deeply disappointed with the decision to limit access to new drugs that can effectively treat nine out of every ten carriers of the virus.
Simon Antrobus, the Chief Executive of Addaction, commented: “The decision by NHS England to limit access to treatment is manifestly unfair on a group of vulnerable people who suffer from a terrible disease. Those who are infected can go on to develop cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
“Denying these people life-saving treatment is a potential death sentence for thousands.”
The Hepatitis C Trust has sought a judicial review of NHS England’s decision and the court is considering whether to grant permission for the case to go ahead. They expect to hear at some point later this year. Addaction supports the judicial review.
Addaction will also publish a major new poll from ComRes, which shows wide support for the charity’s position.
Asked to think about access to treatment for patients with life-threatening illnesses, four in five (79 per cent) say that it is wrong that the NHS should restrict access to treatment for people with life-threatening conditions. Just one in seven (13 per cent) disagree.
Worryingly for the Government, more than half of British adults (55 per cent) think that allowing local areas to decide what treatment they make available creates inequality and a higher chance of a postcode lottery for healthcare, while one in four (26 per cent disagree).
To find out more about Addaction visit www.addaction.org.uk or for local support and advice visit www.riserecovery.org.uk
