Optimising Hepatitis C Treatment for People Who Inject Drugs: Developing a GP-led Patient Pathway

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a serious infection that attacks the liver, and is a leading cause of
mortality and morbidity worldwide. In Scotland, approximately 37,000 people are infected, with over
85% of these infections in people who inject, or have injected drugs (PWID). Treatment for HCV is
simple, tolerable and effective. However, treatment uptake is estimated at only 5-6%. This means
that tens of thousands of people are suffering unnecessarily. The reasons for such low uptake relate
to multiple interruptions in the journey through care, not least the difficulty of linking those diagnosed
with HCV into treatment. One strategy to improve this is the movement of HCV treatment away from
traditional specialist centres, and into primary care. This has been achieved successfully elsewhere
in the world in other health care systems.