A transformative project to rapidly test and treat those with Hepatitis C entering prison in Greater Manchester has been highly commended at the HSJ Value Awards 2020.

The Greater Manchester Hepatitis C Elimination: Prison-based Rapid Test and Treat was given the accolade in the System or Commissioner Led Service Redesign Initiative category.

The project has seen the redesign of the Hepatitis C prison pathway through a rapid test and treat model, reducing the time from entry into prison to testing from more than two weeks to less than 12 hours and curative treatment for those found to be positive from more than four weeks to less than 72 hours.

It is a partnership between Health Innovation Manchester, North Manchester General Hospital, HMP Styal and Spectrum Health

The new pathway aimed to improve individual experience, reduce the time from test to treatment and improve adherence to treatment.

Prison healthcare staff were involved in pathway mapping and engagement was undertaken with residents and staff at HMP Styal to raise awareness of the programme and share the benefits of early testing and treatment. Industry partners Cepheid also trained staff to use new technology to test for Hepatitis C quickly. Clinical and Pharmacy teams from North Manchester were able to institute new ways of working to ensure that new entrants to the prison, who were found to be positive, were able to access their treatment within days instead of weeks as on the previous pathway.

It forms a key part of the Greater Manchester regional Hepatitis C Elimination programme, which is aiming to achieve elimination by 2025, and the model is currently being rolled out to other local prisons.

Judges Comments: “The judges felt that this project demonstrates what is possible when sectors come together to address key public health issues such as Hep C. This ambitious programme helps tackle a vulnerable, neglected patient cohort with an innovative approach, achieving excellent and impressive results and improving lives. There was clear evidence of an effective partnership across multiple organisations, which has led to transformation of the patient pathway and an immediate impact on treatment initiation and compliance.”

The HSJ Value Awards celebrate the projects, teams and the people who are making things better in the NHS. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the award were announced online on 4 September 2020.

Health Innovation Manchester was also involved with two other projects which were finalists for HSJ Value Awards 2020.

• The DECIDE ™ Education Programme was a finalist for Primary Care or Community Service Redesign Initiative. DECIDE™ is an innovative educational programme that supports community clinicians to improve their decision making around diagnosis and management of health problems to improve outcomes for patients. Health Innovation Manchester has worked with Dr Mini Singh, DECIDE Programme Director from the University of Manchester; supported by NHS commissioners and dermatologists at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, on the roll out of the dermatology module of the programme to GPs in with Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG, Bury CCG, Salford CCG and Wigan Borough CCG.
• The Stroke/Atrial Fibrillation project with NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG and Interface Clinical Services was a finalist in the Cardiovascular Care Initiative of the Year award. Tameside and Glossop CCG identified a “case for change” involving the management of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) in primary care and mobilised a collaborative project to prevent stroke incidence within the AF population. The service was designed to improve all aspects of patient care from the correct identification and diagnosis of AF to ensuring patients with AF are optimally anticoagulated. The programme of work supported a 22% reduction in stroke admissions within the CCG post completion.