Nurses at Grimsby hospital are working with charities to raise awareness of Hepatitis C in hard to reach areas of the community.
The collaboration with drug, alcohol and mental health charity WithYou and The Hepatitis C Trust is aimed at reaching those who don’t engage in health services.
Our Hep C Specialist Nurses, Layla Spauls and Poppy Carlberg, work on site and out in the community, holding clinics at locations easily accessible by those who may be at higher risk of contracting blood-borne viruses.
Layla said: “We go to the overnight homeless shelter, Harbour Place and WithYou services. We also do home visits and outreach days to track down those who find it difficult to engage with services or who have chaotic lifestyles, meaning they find it hard to keep track of appointments.
NHS England aims to eliminate Hep C by 2025. A large focus for Layla and Poppy is getting out in the community and testing people, especially those that are hard to reach, such as homeless people or those struggling with addiction and mental health.
Layla said: “We want to use our outreach days as an opportunity to go out with a member of staff from WithYou and The Hepatitis C Trust in areas of Grimsby with high deprivation, and visit the homeless population in Freeman Street, the town centre and the Harbour Place area. We offer on the spot dry blood spot testing, which shows if Hep C antibodies are present within 15 minutes. This would then prompt further blood testing and possibly treatment.”
As an incentive to test, they offer a £5 Love2shop voucher and further vouchers on treatment to encourage patients to attend appointments. WithYou offer clean needle exchanges to discourage those who use intravenous drugs from sharing needles, with the aim of stopping blood-borne viruses being spread amongst this population group.
They give out naloxone kits for the users to prevent overdoses in the community. This has already potentially saved a lot of lives and brought people valuable time until ambulances can get to them. They also offer testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and other infectious diseases.
A service user, who wished to remain anonymous, has shared their story of how they’ve been helped.
They said: “I fell into drugs and quickly got addicted. I was addicted for a long time and struggled in everyday life. I had no house and my mental health went downhill. I was out on the streets and tested for hepatitis using on the spot testing. Turned out I was positive. From there, I got an appointment to see the hepatitis nurse who saw me at WithYou. I’ve now nearly finished my treatment for hepatitis. Everyone has been really friendly and helpful. I wouldn’t have even known that I had hepatitis if I wasn’t asked to do that test while I was on the street. I didn’t really know what it was and I would be living with it for a long time. If I had to go to the hospital for my appointments, I probably wouldn’t go as it’s too far.”
Layla added: “Our Hep C colleague is a peer coordinator working for The Hepatitis C trust who has lived experience and offers hepatitis testing alongside us, as well as support and advice, appointment reminders and even free transport and taxis to attend appointments. I think this is an amazing multi-disciplinary approach to be able to offer to people on the streets, and it’s really helping us identify those most at risk.”
