North East and Yorkshire

The Street Outreach Initiative for Hepatitis C was an opportunistic project during the Covid-19 national lockdown between Leeds Teaching Hospitals viral hepatitis nurses, Bevan outreach team and the Hepatitis C Trust. The focus of this initiative was the hard to engage vulnerable adult (rough sleepers) in the community who were placed in hotels around the city, providing an ideal opportunity to engage, test and treat this group for hepatitis C as well as looking after their general health and wellbeing. The initiative has demonstrated that hepatitis C service delivery with a multi-agency approach works, taking services to vulnerable adults must be an integral part of healthcare service delivery in addition to treating patients in primary and secondary care locations.

Nominated by: Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP