None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
In Australia it is estimated that over 68,000 people are still living with hepatitis C, despite the introduction of highly effective direct acting antiviral (DAA) treatment for hepatitis C in 2016 and improved access via primary care. The number of treatments annually decreased from 2016 – 2022. People with serious mental illness are at higher risk of hepatitis C infection than the general population. Although the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists recommends that psychiatrists encourage people to engage in hepatitis C testing on entry to the mental health service, uptake of this practice is unclear. Reaching people with SMI to offer hepatitis C virus testing may help achieve World Health Organization elimination targets by 2030 and enable this population to realise the benefits of hepatitis C cure. The Reach Out program will offer point of care HCV antibody testing on a finger prick of blood, to community outpatients with SMI. The Reach In inpatient quality improvement activity will offer standard of care HCV antibody testing on a routine blood test, to hospital inpatients with SMI.
Interventions
Offering people with serious mental illness (SMI) hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing may help achieve World Health Organization elimination targets by 2030 and enable this population to realise the benefits of hepatitis C cure.
In the Reach Out program, mental health nurses will offer point of care (POC) HCV antibody testing on a finger prick of blood, to community outpatients with SMI. The frequency of the HCV point of care antibody test is one time only. The test returns results within one minu
Offering people with serious mental illness (SMI) hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing may help achieve World Health Organization elimination targets by 2030 and enable this population to realise the benefits of hepatitis C cure. In the Reach Out program, mental health nurses will offer point of care (POC) HCV antibody testing on a finger prick of blood, to community outpatients with SMI. The frequency of the HCV point of care antibody test is one time only. The test returns results within one minute and these results are provided to the participant immediately. Participants who test positive will be offered referral to the viral hepatitis service. Outcomes of referral will be analysed by review of the patient medical record. In the the Reach In inpatient quality improvement activity, psychiatry resident and registrars will offer standard of care (SOC) HCV antibody testing on a routine blood test to hospital inpatients with serious mental illness. Participants who test positive will be offered treatment and linked to the viral hepatitis service within the hospital. Patients with SMI and hepatitis C will be linked to SOC hepatitis C treatment via the Viral Hepatitis Service (VHS). The Viral Hepatitis Service at Barwon Health provides specialised care for individuals living with hepatitis B and C, offering comprehensive services including assessment, treatment, education, and support to patients across the Barwon South West region. The team consists of infectious diseases physicians, gastroenterologists and clinical nurses consultants, including an outreach nurse, working together to ensure holistic care. In addition to clinical care, the team are actively involved in viral hepatitis research, with a particular focus on improving models of care in regional and rural areas.
Sponsors
Barwon Health
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Diagnosis
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Reach Out Program Group - Inclusion criteria: - Receiving case management from Barwon Mental Health - Able to provide verbal consent for hepatitis C INSTI testing and/or questionnaire, audit of HCV care pathway. - Age 18 years and over - Eligible for Medicare Reach Out retrospective (24 weeks pre-intervention* outpatient data set approx. 250 patients) group - Inclusion criteria for data applied for under waiver of consent: - Receiving case management from Barwon Mental Health - Age 18 years and over Reach In Inpatient Quality Improvement group - Inclusion criteria - Barwon Health inpatient under the Mental Health bed card: - Able to provide verbal consent for questionnaire in English, HCV audit. - Age 18 years and over Reach In Inpatient retrospective group - Inclusion criteria for data applied for under waiver of consent: - Barwon Health inpatient under the Mental Health bed card - Age 18 years and over
Exclusion criteria
N/A
Outcome results
None listed