A GROUND-BREAKING project is being rolled out across Devon to eliminate the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus (HCV) from the county – supported by the region’s key health chiefs.

National drug charity Addaction has joined forces with the Hepatitis C Trust to pilot the scheme, which was announced at a meeting of the region’s top health professionals and decision makers yesterday (Wed) in Exeter.

The project includes hugely increasing rates of HCV testing by training many more drug service staff in awareness and how to test, along with a peer educator system which will see people who have had HCV delivering a personal message to service users about the importance of being tested and getting treated. In addition, a buddying scheme will give people extra support to get to hospital appointments and endure the long and tough treatment programme.

Addaction’s Head of Recovery Engagement, David Badcock, said at the meeting: “Elimination will happen; it’s a case of how quickly it will happen and how many lives we can save in the meantime.

“Devon is an area that isn’t performing as well as other parts of the country, but that means there is a great opportunity for improvement and we can make a difference in a short space of time.

“Drug services are at the forefront of this and at Addaction we are really serious about wanting to do this. We’ve been working with The Hepatitis C Trust for four years developing some very ground-breaking initiatives in order to help this situation.”

The meeting saw top health chiefs gather to work out how to identify those with hepatitis C and how best to treat them. The meeting was chaired by chairman of the NHS Alliance Dr Michael Dixon.

Attendees included the Lord Mayor of Exeter Cllr Percy Prowse, Devon County Council commissioner Gill Unstead, Dr Mark Kealy from Public Health, Sue Taylor from the Local Pharmaceutical Committee, prominent consultants from the county’s hospitals, GPs, nurses and representatives of pharmaceutical company AbbVie, which is providing funding support for the project.

Former hepatitis C sufferer Dave Lee, who now volunteers as a peer educator to those in drug rehabilitation and treatment programmes, told the audience: “Stigma around this runs rife. But hepatitis C is a bully, we didn’t ask for this virus and I was taught to stand up to bullies.

“This is why education, testing and treatment are vital.

“The joy I see in an individual’s eyes when you tell them their test is negative, the difference in a person’s health and how that compounds their reintegration into society when the virus is cleared is a reward beyond compare.”

As part of the project, the local drug and alcohol partnership RISE, of which Addaction is the lead partner, has recently rolled out hepatitis C testing amongst their service users.

At the meeting, Gill Unstead, Devon Drug & Alcohol Action Team Commissioning Manager said: “This (HCV testing) has been a high priority for us. We have started blood spot testing and there has been a lot of work that’s just beginning to get there.

“It would be great to see it eradicated or to get it as low as possible in Devon.”

Dr Phillippa Smithson from Clocktower Surgery said: “There are a lot of people who inject drugs or used to inject drugs who are not in treatment and don’t therefore have access to testing.

“There are pockets of GPs who have higher numbers and they could be targeted first. An idea would be to allow people to have blood spot testing without being registered.”

Chief officer for the Devon Local Pharmaceutical Committee Sue Taylor said: “There is a cohort of community pharmacists who see people who come in for clean needles who may not be known to other organisations.

In Plymouth, there is a public health funded pilot taking place among a small number of community pharmacists who have been offering oral fluid tests and have already identified 22 cases of HCV.”

Lord Mayor Cllr Percy Prowse: “I applaud what you are doing.”

NHS Alliance Chairman Dr Michael Dixon: “If you don’t expose the problem, you turn a blind eye.

“Once you attack the problem of hepatitis C, it creates a positive ripple effect for drug takers, their peer group and their families. Let’s create some more virtuous circles.

“It has been a fascinating discussion and I think we’ve come to one or two agreements. The first that we should be working harder to find out who has HCV in our community.

"We need to make sure those currently taking drugs are tested, but also those no longer taking drugs and who don’t know they have got it are tested too.

"We need to think about working with GPs and pharmacists and public health to do that.

“We’ve agreed the work doesn’t need to be just in the hospitals, but out in the community. We should be maximising our use of peers and buddies and getting right under the skin of this problem.

“We are also agreed that everyone needs to know more about this.”

Attendees agreed to meet again in one year to see what progress has been made.