People diagnosed with Hepatitis C virus are now able to receive treatment locally without the need to travel to Southampton for care.
For the first time since Hepatitis C was discovered in 1989, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust is able to offer a service at St Mary’s Hospital where previously patients had to travel to Southampton General hospital every fortnight with only a 60% chance of successfully treating the virus.
Hepatitis C is a virus that can infect the liver. You can become infected with it if you come into contact with the blood of an infected person. If left untreated, it can sometimes cause serious and potentially life-threatening damage to the liver over many years. However, with modern treatments it’s possible to cure the infection in 80-90% of cases and most people with it will have a normal life expectancy.
Dr Leonie Grellier leads the local service which delivers cutting edge therapy to patients who have Hepatitis C induced liver scarring (known as cirrhosis). A clinic is held at St Mary’s Hospital on Wednesday afternoons and incorporates a specialist partnership between Southampton General Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital.
Speaking about the new service, Dr Grellier said:
“The local treatment of patients with Hepatitis C is completely new on the Island and with time this venture should help reduce the numbers of patients infected with hepatitis C together with the complications of liver scarring and liver cancer. The service has been running for two months and we are already seeing excellent responses to the new medicines being offered to patients which are proving effective in clearing hepatitis C virus in 90% of cases.
“We are awaiting delivery of a fibroscanner which will help us assess liver scarring without the need for a biopsy. The scans take 3-4 minutes and can be performed in the outpatient clinic or in the community”.
Dr Grellier continued:
“Having to travel to Southampton for treatment was challenging for patients who were unwell from liver disease and included expensive travelling costs. Offering a service on the Island has already increased the numbers of patients accessing care and treatment over the last 6 months in a way which has not been seen here before.”
Hepatitis C often doesn’t have any noticeable symptoms until the liver has been significantly damaged. This means many people have the infection without realising it. The only way to know for certain if these symptoms are caused by hepatitis C is to get tested. An island-wide campaign was launched last year to encourage anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to risk of contracting hepatitis C to get themselves tested at a community pharmacy by having a simple ‘finger prick’ test for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.
Dr Ryan Buchanan, Hepatology Research Fellow was involved with the research which has led to the new service being offered locally. He said:
“The research showed that more patients living with Hepatitis C on the Isle of Wight had Liver scarring than patients living in Southampton and that only 30% had ever received treatment. It was therefore imperative that a treatment service was established on the Island to treat those patients most at risk of liver failure and liver cancer as a result of their Hepatitis C infection.
“We are excited about the new service and the outcomes we are beginning to see and we will continue develop and expand the service to provide drugs directly from community pharmacies in the near future.”
Hepatitis C testing is quick and easy and involves a simple finger-prick test and results are available within two weeks. Anyone who thinks they may be infected is encouraged to speak to their pharmacist about getting tested.
