On 28 February an event was held in HMP Berwyn to celebrate the sustained micro-elimination of hepatitis C and mark the end of an 18 month peer project led by The Hepatitis C Trust that supported this achievement.
The Welsh Government set out targets in the Welsh Circular for 100% of new prisoners to be offered a hepatitis C test on entry. According to the targets, by April 2024, 90% of prisoners should accept a test and 90% of any new positives should start treatment.
Although these were ambitious targets when set, a multidisciplinary team involving The Hepatitis C Trust, Betsi Cadwaladr NHS (BCUHB), Public Health Wales and HMPPS was set up to face the challenge at HMP Berwyn which has a population of 2,000 men. Not only were the targets met ahead of schedule, the team have managed to maintain the elimination for five months so far and have an embedded maintenance strategy to futureproof the micro-elimination.
The project first came to fruition on World Hepatitis Day 2021 when Public Health Wales implemented a rapid pathway to streamline testing times and introduced a Cepheid rapid PCR testing machine. The Hepatitis C Trust delivered testing events on the wings as well as awareness training to the healthcare teams. BCUHB worked hard to ensure access to treatment pathways were as streamlined as possible.
After months of planning, The Hepatitis C Trust peer project launched with two full-time members of staff, Neil Emery and Jenessa Turnbull, to support the newly appointed BBV nurse Anya Hughes. The Trust team were quick to provide the prisoners and staff with awareness training and recruit and train peers to support this and have all-important myth busting conversation with fellow prisoners on the wings.
Over the 18 months the team managed to test over 95% of the population between them with 18 prison volunteer peers and use the voice of lived experience with those men that initially declined testing, the team managed to overturn over 300 of those decisions.
The celebration event was attended by staff from HMPPS, PHW, BCUHB and The Hepatitis C Trust alongside 15 of the volunteer peers who each received a certificate and thank you buffet for all their invaluable work.
“When walking around the landings of HMP Berwyn the attitude towards hep C is positive and the stigma is virtually non-existent. Without the peers it would have not been achievable -HMP Berwyn is now one of the flagship prisons in the world for elimination of hepatitis C.” said Lee Devereux, The Hepatitis C Trust Southern England and Wales Prisons Manager
“Achieving this accomplishment in HMP, Berwyn has been a complete multidisciplinary team effort and work will continue to maintain the micro-elimination status going forward so that the prison continues to meet the targets set by the Welsh government” said Louise Davies, National ID POCT Lead PHW
“The team within HMP Berwyn was made up of pharmacists, nurses and Hepatitis C Trust peers, and also involved prisoner peers. HMP Berwyn is the UK’s largest prison so presented unique challenges. The team has worked tirelessly over the past few years educating to raise awareness and reduce stigma, testing and treating using a streamlined pathway. We are very proud to be able to announce micro-elimination of hepatitis C within HMP Berwyn.” said Liz Hurry, BCUHB NHS Wales