"Aspirational" approach needed for hepatitis C
People who have lived with hepatitis C spoke to health boards about how to best tackle the virus
Last updated 10th May 2018
Former hepatitis C sufferers have urged Scottish ministers and NHS boards to adopt an “aspirational” approach to the treatment and elimination of the virus. Jim Clark, who was infected for a decade before being cured in 2013, told Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee that current Scottish Government targets should be considered “absolute minimums”.
He wants health boards to adopt further “ambitious and aspirational upper treatment targets” on top of these.
Mr Clark told the committee: “Since getting rid of the virus, I've gotten myself back into employment, it's taken a while but I'm off benefits now and I am working.
“I just feel if it can make such a positive impact on my life we should do it for everyone who is infected.”
His calls - set out in a petition - are supported by The Hepatitis C Trust which published a report in January stating that Scotland is currently not on track to achieve its commitment to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030. Around 37,000 people in Scotland are infected with the virus, with approximately 40% remaining undiagnosed, according to the Trust.
Hepatitis C is preventable, treatable and curable, but can cause fatal cirrhosis and liver cancer if left untreated.
The government has set targets of 2,000 treatment initiations for 2018/19, 2,500 for 2019/20 and 3,000 for 2020/21 onwards. While the figures represent an increase on the 2017/18 target of 1,800, the uplift is much smaller than the significant decline in treatment costs over the same period.
Charles Gore, chief executive of the Trust and also a former hepatitis C sufferer, said Scotland was considered an “absolute leader” in the treatment of the virus.
However, he added: “I just feel at the moment what we are doing is stepping back a little bit, and saying 'let's try and do the minimum, and not be aspirational about this'.”
He pointed to work in NHS Tayside to proactively seek out sufferers and target drug users, who are among the marginalised groups disproportionately affected by the virus.
The board has said it can eliminate hepatitis C locally in the next five years.
“Why can't we do it in the rest of Scotland, because they are being aspirational, and the rest of Scotland is not,'' Mr Gore said.
“There are other parts of the country where they are very clearly literally hitting the target and stopping.”
The committee agreed to pursue the petition by contacting the Scottish Government, health boards, alcohol and drug partnerships and the Scottish Prison Service