Pilot Project
LJWG Pilot Report
Measuring the impact of the recommendations of the LJWG – learning from the pilots. Read the report here.
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‘It’s great that the LJWG pilot sites are taking action to improve awareness about hepatitis C and access to testing, support and treatment for people at risk. Their actions will make a real difference to patients, potentially saving lives, and we hope other London boroughs will learn from their experiences.’ Jane Cox, The Hepatitis C Trust
We know from models that, if we are to prevent an epidemic of severe liver disease, large numbers of people with hepatitis C need to be treated. Prevalence in injecting drug users in London is around 59%. According to the RCGP, “at present only around 1% of injecting drug users (IDUs) manage to get treated so there is plenty of scope for improvement.”
The London Consensus recommendations aim to improve access to treatment through patient pathways more suited to the needs of people who use drugs. Given the lack of an overarching body in London with the authority to mandate the uptake of the recommendations across all 32 boroughs, our focus is on local areas where there are clear lines of accountability.
Four boroughs (Croydon, Haringey, Islington and Lambeth) were chosen to pilot the uptake of the recommendations. Their experience and results were presented at the LJWG conference in September. 2013
The pilots focus on four key outcomes:
- Improving rates of access to assessment and treatment for people with a history of drug misuse
- Ensuring that clear patient pathways – informed by best practice – are in place
- Improving workforce and service user awareness (of both hepatitis C and the patient pathway)
- Developing patient-focused services
Specific indicators were agreed for each of the 4 outcomes and the interim evaluation results were presented at the conference.
In line with nationally-established long term indicators, the pilots will also support the achievement of key public health outcomes frameworks, and develop cost-effective services.
The pilots are supported by a Working Group, and a support package provided, including:
- information and training resources
- testing and counselling services (provided by the Hepatitis C Trust’s mobile unit, in partnership with Find and Treat)
- support in using the PREVENT bundle
- project support
- baseline data from a Public Health survey conducted by Abigail Knight, Specialty Registrar in Public Health, NHS Inner North West London
LJWG Gilead Fellowship 2013 Summary.
LJWG awarded Gilead Fellowship Grant to support development of innovative data collection [Download PDF]