Testing for hepatitis B and C in pharmacies is accelerating, with more schemes launching up and down England.
NHS Kingston is set to launch testing next month in 10 pharmacies. The scheme is part of a wider move to scale-up harm reduction in Kingston, according to Leila Reid, research and communications manager at The Hepatitis C Trust.
NHS East Riding of Yorkshire is trialling the service for six months in three of its east Yorkshire pharmacies.
The scheme involves offering free finger-prick blood testing to customers and referring those with a positive result directly to a local medical consultant, or to their GP if they prefer. The service, which was launched last week, is aimed at people using needle exchange services.
Eight pharmacies in Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust are also offering testing to anyone who may be at risk. The pilot, which started in May, is likely to run until the end of March 2012 but will be reviewed this autumn.
Ms Reid hopes that World Hepatitis Day on 28 July 2011 will highlight the disease as being just as worthy of attention as other blood-borne diseases such as HIV, and possibly drive more people into pharmacy for testing.
She said: "At the moment we have about 12 PCTs with 80 or so pharmacies offering the testing service and the results have been promising so far, but we’d love to hear from more PCTs or pharmacies that would like to get involved."
The schemes are designed locally and vary in duration. Ms Reid said: "Some services are ongoing, some have set review dates and others have funded a given number of tests as a starting point, calculated according to prevalence estimates, for example."
A one-day training session and patient information materials are provided free to all pharmacists involved in the scheme, with payment set at between £10 and £20 per test. Pharmacists interested in providing the service can contact The Hepatitis C Trust on 020 7089 6220 or visit www.hepctrust.org.uk.
Details of the 12 PCTs offering hepatitis B and C testing in conjunction with The Hepatitis C Trust can be found on PJ Online. Haringey and Isle of Wight PCT also offer testing, independently of The Hepatitis C Trust.
Source: www.pjonline.com
