Last month we were thrilled to win the prestigious Communiqué ‘Best Health Policy Campaign’ award for the work we do with the brilliant patient group, The Hepatitis C Trust.
 
The Hepatitis C Trust is an inspirational organisation that puts patients at the heart of everything they do (it is led and almost entirely staffed by patients) – and they do a lot!  Public, professional and political awareness of hepatitis C is low and it is a health issue that disproportionately affects vulnerable members of society (for example, homeless people and injecting drug users) so making sure they have a strong voice in political and policy making circles is crucial.
 
We have worked closely with the team at the Trust to analyse the problems in services for hepatitis C patients and produce a robust evidence base and cross-party political support for reform.  Our call for action was for a national liver strategy driven by a ‘National Liver Tsar’ to solve many of the problems experienced by patients (such as low diagnosis rates, poor public awareness, low treatment rates, a postcode lottery of care and undefined patient pathway).
 
Working closely with the members of the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group (APPHG) and other liver related charities, we built a cross-party political alliance to support this aim and raised the issue in Parliament through a variety of constructive questions, debates, motions and meetings.  Developing an evidence base for reform was crucial, so we audited Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities on their hepatitis C services which revealed the previous Department of Health Action Plan for hepatitis C was not working and change was urgently needed.
 
Needless to say, we were delighted when the Minister for Health responded to the campaign and announced the development of a National Liver Strategy in October 2009 and appointed a National Clinical Director for Liver Disease (in February 2010) to drive forward the work. 
 
There’s still lots to do!  The Trust is now working with the Department of Health to make sure that the strategy will make the necessary changes to patients’ health and wellbeing… and then will be working with local health services and local authorities to make sure the changes are implemented on the ground and that patients feel the difference. 
 
The judges said:
“Quite simply this campaign helped transform the policy landscape for Hepatitis C”
 ”This stood out in an extremely high standard category. An outstanding piece of work – very defined, robust and measurable. Their success ensured they over-achieved against very tough objectives”