Australasian Viral Hepatitis Elimination Conference August 2019

A report back on Rebecca Brereton and Bradley Whitto's session Integrating hepatitis C care within community health and addiction services. 

Rebecca and Brad provided an insight into what services they provide at the Alfred Hospital for the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, from m the point of view of a Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Consultant working with people who have hepatitis C, drug addiction issues and/or diagnosed with a mental health disorder. The aim of the service is to provide a nurse-led model of care, to educate people with hepatitis C, on the new treatment regime, allowing them to feel included and not excluded, due to their mental health and lifestyle choices.  The idea is to minimize the barriers of treatment by allowing everyone who has hepatitis C, no matter what their status is, in having access to affordable accessible treatment and being cured.

A report back on Gary Keogh’s session Breaking one of the Barriers to Hepatitis C treatment – Linking outreach to existing services.

Queensland Injectors Health Network (QuIHN) have a successfully set up a network of nurse practitioner/clinical nurse consultants -led community clinics across Queensland targeting vulnerable clients and they are also happy to see anyone that walks in their door.   Their model is not preaching abstinence, but rather a harm reduction model. 

A report back on Professor Greg Dore’s presentation: DAA uptake and outcomes in Australia delivered at the Treating Hepatitis C in General Practice Forum

In this session, we were given an update on the current data about who is prescribing DAAs in Australia and how it is going, with a bit of a focus on general practice.

A report back on Kurt Brereton's session: Inside the Lived Experience delivered at the Treating Hepatitis C in General Practice Forum

Kurt is a man who has had Hep C contracted, many years ago, in his youth.  He outlined his journey and provided insight into his feelings and treatment by others particularly health professionals and provided advice and ideas on how to interact with people who are at risk or do carry Hep C.

A report back on Dr Anne Balcomb’s session: Where are all the undiagnosed HCV cases? Delivered at the Treating Hepatitis C in General Practice Forum.

Anne outlined her work as a GP working in a hospital interface role in a small town and finding and managing patients with viral hepatitis.

A report back on Ms Sinead Sheils's session: HCV care in OPT clinic setting: changing Model of Care and inclusion of peer worker can increase client engagement and HCV screening rates.

Sinead spoke about the benefits of her model, which involves collaboration between a Nurse Practitioner and a Peer worker to increase access to DAA therapy. The peer worker significantly increased engagement in screening by establishing rapport and endorsing the validity of the treatments to fellow peers. This also freed up the Nurse Practitioner to perform clinical care duties.

A report back on Sinead Sheils, ‘Impact of Implementation of a Collaborative and Assertive HCV Focused Model of Care on Screening and Treatment Uptake, in a Metropolitan, Private Opioid Pharmacotherapy Clinic”.

A report back on Jacqui Richmond's presentation: Lifting the invisibility cloak: the role of nurses in Hepatitis C elimination

Nurses are a large group of Health Professionals with numbers in excess of 365,000 in Australia, including an estimated 1800 Nurse Practitioners but why is it that their contribution is invisible? Jacqui raised the uncomfortable question in a room of delegates dominated in numbers by nurses.

This is a report back on Mrs. Marrianne Black's presentation: More than just 12km: A comparison of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communities Living with hepatitis B in the Brisbane South PHN which was delivered at the Australasian Viral Hepatitis Elimination Conference 2019, which is included in the Oral Abstracts 2: Gains and Gaps: The Hepatitis response in CALD and Indigenous populations.

As a general practice nurse who serves many Chinese and Vietnamese people in our community, the presentation piqued my interest. It made me realise how important it is to find out more about health-seeking behaviours of certain ethnic groups, because it could potentially inform us how to better take care of them and manage their conditions.

A report back on Kerrin Param's session All stories matter in HCV elimination.

Since DAA Hep C treatment was made available on the PBS in 2016, we have seen increases in coordinated MDT efforts. The hepatology partnership model is one of those initiatives. They established community-based clinics in the areas of Caloundra to Bundaberg and in Maryborough prison. By establishing these community-based clinics, they broke down barriers and made Hep C treatment accessible and available to locals within those communities.