HCV Action launches hepatitis C ‘action week’ in Kent

This week, HCV Action – a professional network co-ordinated by The Hepatitis C Trust – will host a hepatitis C ‘action week’ aimed at raising awareness of the virus in the Kent region and sharing best practice from across the UK.
The event is the second action week of 2018, following a similar event series hosted in Oxford in June. Action weeks are also planned in Sheffield and Glasgow later this year.
The focus of the action week is a Hepatitis C Good Practice Roadshow, taking place on Wednesday 5th September in Maidstone.The roadshow will bring together health professionals, drug service workers, public health specialists and others from across Kent for a day of talks and workshops.
The event will highlight local good practice and act as a forum for discussion about local challenges and solutions surrounding hepatitis C. It will feature discussion on topics such as local epidemiology, treatments and possibilities for elimination, and primary care case-finding. The roadshow will also include patient perspectives and good practice case studies from the local area.
A mobile testing van will conduct outreach testing in high-prevalence areas in Maidstone and Kent throughout the week. The mobile testing van will be staffed by trained staff members conducting a finger-prick test which gives an instant antibody result.
Anyone with a positive test result will be immediately referred for additional testing and treatment by the nurse team in attendance. The local drug and alcohol service providers will also be providing harm reduction advice and support alongside the testing van. Local politicians and health commissioners have been invited to visit the mobile testing van to learn more about the impact of hepatitis C in Kent.
A limited number of free places for the roadshow are still available and can be booked here. For any press queries or additional information, please contact urte.macikene@hepctrust.org.uk.