Blood borne viruses

Elimination of viral hepatitis

New treatments have progressed significantly over recent years, with the current treatment options providing the potential to cure almost all people infected with hepatitis C and with effective treatments available for hepatitis B. This has led to the ambition across the world to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat through effective treatment and prevention of transmission by 2030.

NHS Highland is committed towards the ambition of eliminating HCV in Scotland. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity and a wide range of activities are underway to support this aim. If you would like to know more about the work we are doing please contact Dr Jenny Wares, Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Strategic Lead for BBVs, in the Health Protection team.

Blood borne virus testing - pilot project

One of the projects NHS Highland is implementing to support HCV elimination across the area is a pilot project of opt-out blood borne virus testing in the emergency department. The blood borne viruses that we will test for are hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV. This will be a pilot project and will be undertaken at Raigmore Hospital Emergency Department. This project has been enabled through additional funding received from Scottish Government.

The aim of the project is to increase our case-finding activity for all three BBVs through an increase in testing. If we can identify cases of undiagnosed infection through this increased testing, this can lead to earlier assessment and treatment for patients which leads to better health outcomes. An increase in HCV case-finding activity will also support our HCV treatment targets and ultimately support our goal of HCV elimination. A further benefit is that testing on an opt-out basis in an Emergency Department setting will also provide more information in relation to how prevalent these infections are. Effective treatment for each of the BBVs also has wider public health benefits due to the reduction in onward transmission of hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.

As part of this project, everyone aged 16 and older who has a blood test performed as part of their assessment in the Raigmore Emergency Department will now have a test for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV unless they opt-out. Any patient requiring further testing or follow up in relation to their blood test result will be contacted directly by the relevant specialist. We will only contact patients if further follow up is needed. As such, anyone with a negative result will not be contacted. It is not always possible to test samples due to technical problems.

We hope that by carrying out this project we will identify undiagnosed cases of infection who could be offered treatment which will ultimately lead to health benefits for those affected.

If you would like to know whether your blood was tested, please contact NHS Highland’s Health Protection team.