The Hepatitis C Trust has been named Health and Wellbeing Employer of the Year at the prestigious Inspire Justice Awards, delivered by Skills for Justice.
An expert panel of judges were impressed by The Hepatitis C Trust’s work, which is on course to eliminate the virus in prisons by 2025.
Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver that can cause both mild and serious illness including liver cirrhosis and cancer.
With the virus much more common in prisons than in the community, The Hepatitis C Trust embarked on a targeted programme of work in 2017 to raise awareness and expand testing and treatment across the prison estate.
At the core of the Trust’s efforts to combat hepatitis C in prisons is its Peer2Peer project, which sees individuals with lived experience of hepatitis C, previous offending and substance use engage with others.
The approach has yielded dividends with a peer-led approach saving countless lives and inspiring peer workers themselves to want to give back to society, stop offending and help others when they leave prison.
Sean Cox is the Director of Prisons at The Hepatitis C Trust and leads its prisons team. Accepting the award on behalf his colleagues Sean said:
“Amazing! It’s great to get the recognition for the hard work that we all do. Very, very proud.”
The Hepatitis C Trust’s dedicated prisons programme began with two staff members working across 8 London prisons. This very quickly expanded across the national prison estate and the team, led by Sean Cox, is now working in every English prison, as well as many in Scotland and Wales.
It has struck up partnerships with NHS England Health & Justice, Public Health England, HM Prison and Probation Service and more to help treat and prevent the spread of the virus across the prison estate. Delivered by Skills for Justice, the Inspire Justice Awards celebrates the outstanding achievements of the justice sector workforce. Now in its second year, the Inspire Justice Awards are sponsored by BT, Unison and SFJ Awards.