our community programmes

Our Follow Me programme offers a buddying service to help support people who have been diagnosed with hepatitis C through treatment.

We train and support peer volunteers to provide tailored support for people through testing, treatment and care.

In services where we have implemented this programme, the offer of peer support is made after every positive diagnosis of hepatitis C.

Peers take the time to listen to the needs of each patient and are able to adapt the support they offer to suit the patient’s needs and make sure that they complete their treatment. This could include anything from simply listening to a patient’s worries, to helping to provide assistance in finding accommodation or putting them in touch with services that can help with their other needs.

As part of our Follow Me programme, we train our peers to conduct hepatitis C workshops to help provide education to people most at risk of the virus. Find out more about these workshops on our Workshops page.

We first started using testing vans in 2011 to go out to meet people where they are and offer information, testing and referral. This model is now used by the NHS, who we often support at their testing events.

We work mainly with people at greater risk due to drug use, including homeless people, people who have been in prison, and people from countries where hepatitis C is more common than in the UK.

Finger prick testing is offered to anyone who wants it. Its simplicity and speed means more people are willing to take the test. Those testing positive are referred to local services.

Before any outreach or testing event, we work with local services to brief staff, publicise the visit, and ensure that the right facilities and onward referral steps are in place. We often attend events put on by other charities or organisations to raise awareness and help educate people about hepatitis C.

We have around 200 peer volunteers working with us at any one time.

Peer volunteers are supported to deliver workshops in community and prison settings, sharing their personal experiences to help educate others about hepatitis C.

Our volunteers also provide emotional and practical support to people at risk of hepatitis C.

Support varies, but often includes hepatitis C testing, helping patients attend clinical appointments and supporting them to speak to healthcare professionals.

Every volunteer receives comprehensive training including a three-day residential training course and induction, regular line management meetings and ongoing support, and access to a wide range of training.

So far, 34 of our volunteers have since enrolled in further education. 65% of people who’ve volunteered with us have moved on to paid employment.

1. Hackney – Peer-Led Harm Reduction Hub (SWERVE)

The Hackney Harm Reduction Hub, delivered in partnership with the London Joint Working Group is a community-based peer-led harm reduction service designed to engage people who inject drugs who are not accessing traditional drug services. The project began as a mobile van and outreach model and has evolved into a permanent harm reduction hub with outreach activity across the borough.

The hub provides unrestricted NSP, naloxone distribution, drug checking strips, BBV testing and referral to treatment. The service emphasises a judgement-free peer environment, with staff and volunteers who have lived and living experience of drug use delivering support and building trust with marginalised populations.

Peers also conduct outreach to hostels and street locations, providing harm reduction advice and linking individuals to housing, treatment and healthcare services. In its first year, the service engaged over 1,400 individuals, with 64% not connected to drug treatment services, demonstrating its ability to reach highly marginalised populations.

Core outcomes

• Peer-led harm reduction hub and drop-in service
• Unrestricted NSP and naloxone distribution
• Drug checking and BBV testing
• Outreach to hostels and street-based populations
• Strong peer volunteer workforce
• Integration with local harm reduction networks

Read the evaluation of the Hub’s first year here

2. Sefton / Liverpool City Region – Peer-Led HCV Partnership Model

This programme delivers a peer-led hepatitis C elimination and harm reduction coordination model embedded within drug treatment services and community settings across Sefton and the Liverpool City Region. The project focuses on sustaining hepatitis C micro-elimination by increasing testing, supporting treatment engagement, and strengthening harm reduction pathways.

Peers with lived experience of drug use and hepatitis C provide harm reduction education, promote blood-borne virus (BBV) testing, distribute naloxone and secondary needle and syringe provision (NSP), and support individuals to access treatment. The programme also develops a peer volunteer network that reaches into communities of people who inject drugs who are not engaged with traditional services.

Alongside direct engagement, the project delivers training for drug and alcohol service staff, works closely with pharmacies and treatment providers, and collaborates with the regional Operational Delivery Network (ODN) to improve care pathways and reduce reinfection risk. The model combines peer engagement, workforce development and system coordination to sustain progress towards hepatitis C elimination.

Core outcomes

• Peer-led education and harm reduction outreach
• Secondary NSP and naloxone distribution
• BBV testing promotion and treatment navigation
• Workforce training for drug and alcohol services
• Partnership with the Cheshire and Merseyside ODN and local treatment providers
• Data coordination to sustain hepatitis C elimination

3. National Peer-Led Needle and Syringe Programme (NSP)

The Hepatitis C Trust delivers a national peer-led Needle and Syringe Programme (NSP) alongside its NHS England hepatitis C elimination contracts. Delivered by trained peer workers and volunteers with lived experience of drug use and hepatitis C, the programme expands access to sterile injecting equipment and harm reduction support through community outreach and local service partnerships.

The programme provides a dual benefit to the hepatitis C elimination effort. Firstly, it reduces the risk of new infections by increasing access to sterile injecting equipment and practical harm reduction advice. Secondly, it has become one of the Trust’s most effective engagement and case-finding tools. By building trust within injecting drug user networks, peer workers are able to reach individuals who are not connected to traditional services. Through word-of-mouth and peer relationship building, people often attend for testing as “friends of friends”, enabling the programme to identify previously undiagnosed hepatitis C cases and support individuals into care.

All staff and volunteers delivering our peer-led NSP service use a dedicated digital monitoring app, allowing the Trust to track equipment distribution and engagement activity in real time. In the programme’s first year of operation, by March 2026, peers had completed 5,287 NSP transactions, distributing 86,685 1ml syringes, 27,003 2ml syringes, nearly 100,000 spoons, filters and sterile water ampoules, and 1,214 naloxone kits. Importantly, over 40% of individuals accessing the programme are not currently engaged with drug and alcohol treatment services, demonstrating the programme’s ability to reach populations who may otherwise remain outside harm reduction and healthcare systems.

Core outcomes

• Peer-led NSP distribution
• Community outreach within networks of injecting drug users
• Naloxone distribution and overdose prevention
• BBV awareness, testing promotion and case finding
• Digital monitoring of harm reduction activity
• Engagement of individuals not connected to traditional healthcare services
• Integration with NHS England hepatitis C elimination efforts

4. Birmingham – Peer-Led Mobile Harm Reduction Van Model

This project delivers a mobile harm reduction outreach service operating from a dedicated van in Birmingham city centre. The service is designed to reach people who use drugs, people experiencing homelessness and individuals not currently engaged in structured treatment services.

The mobile unit provides unrestricted needle and syringe provision (NSP), naloxone distribution, safer injecting advice and harm reduction information, alongside hepatitis C testing, liver assessment and referral into care. Peer workers provide one-to-one engagement, including buddy support to help individuals access treatment appointments and wider health and social care services.

The van operates in key city-centre locations and hostels, creating a visible and trusted access point for harm reduction services. The service also works closely with local treatment providers, hostels and the regional ODN to create stronger pathways between street engagement and clinical care.

Core outcomes

• Mobile harm reduction van operating in city-centre hotspots
• Peer-led advice, NSP and naloxone distribution
• BBV testing and liver assessment
• Outreach to people not in structured treatment
• Peer navigation and treatment engagement support
• Strong partnership with local services and ODNs

Cirrhosis is the main risk factor for liver cancer (also known as hepatocellular carcinoma, or HCC).

Detecting and treating liver cancer at an early stage means that treatment is more effective.

Many of the people at risk of liver cancer in the UK don’t have enough access to NHS services. This might be because they’re homeless, because they find getting to appointments difficult, or because of poor experience of health services in the past.

In order to reach them, our peers work alongside our partners in the NHS to conduct mobile liver scans (FibroScans). The results are fed back to the clinical team and, if needed, steps are taken to make sure the patient gets the care they need.

Our peers help to educate anyone found to have cirrhosis about the importance of attending follow up appointments. They also support any patients who require ongoing liver surveillance to attend their appointments – whether diagnosed previously or by us – and they signpost people who need extra support to the services that can provide it.