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Hepatitis C

Liver (Cambridge Liver Unit)

Our services

We provide testing, treatment and support for hepatitis C (HCV) across the East of England. We cover Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Norfolk, Suffolk, most of Essex and parts of Bedfordshire. If you live in one of these areas and would like to discuss having a test close to home, please click here for our Hepatitis C test form.

In addition, we run a number of clinics and have a community van that travels to different locations all over the region.

If any restrictions limit the venues that our community van can go to we will continue to visit locations that remain open, such as soup kitchens and homeless shelters. For details on where our van will be, please contact the service on 01223 596153 (leaving a message if needed)

Link: https://youtu.be/xp7trq-kaD8

Types of testing

If you think you might be in a risk group, you should be tested for HCV. Testing for HCV can be performed using:

  • A finger prick test
  • A mouth swab
  • Venous blood sampling

How often should I have a HCV test?

If you have ongoing risk factors for HCV, you should be tested every six months. Otherwise, a single test is enough. Risk factors are given below.

What is Hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is a common blood borne virus (BBV) that can affect anyone and often does not have any symptoms. It is very easy to treat and cure and NHS England aim to eliminate it by 2025. For more information, please see the links below.

Anyone can catch Hepatitis C, but people in the following groups may be at higher risk:

  • Had a needlestick or sharps injury?
  • Vaccinations/dental/medical treatment (including cosmetic surgery) in countries outside of the UK?
  • Ever injected drugs or steroids?
  • Received blood clotting products before 1987 or had a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992?
  • Ever shared any drug taking equipment?
  • Ever lived with, or cared for someone who injected drugs or had Hep C?
  • Had man to man sex or attended a Chemsex party?
  • Had a tattoo or piercing that was home made or by an unlicensed practitioner?
  • Ever lived in a children’s home, prison or residential school?
  • Shard a razor/toothbrush hair/nail clippers?
  • Attended a Botox party?
  • Had sex with a man or woman who sells sex?
  • Had any liver problems e.g. abnormal liver blood tests or alcoholic liver disease?
  • Come from, or frequently visit a country with a higher rate of Hep C – Africa, Asia, The Caribbean, Central and South America, Eastern and Southern Europe, The Middle East, the Pacific Islands
  • Been born to a mother who has Hep C?

Clinics

Currently we have the following clinics available:

Addenbrooke’s - every Tuesday 9am – 12:30pm
Peterborough - Change, Grow, Live (CGL) fortnightly, Wednesdays 11am – 3:30pm
Cambridge CGL - every 4 weeks, Thursdays 11am – 2:40pm
Wisbech - CGL every 4 weeks, Thursdays 12pm – 2:30pm
Huntingdon – every 4 weeks Tuesdays 11am – 3pm
Bury St Edmunds -Turning Point, every 4 weeks, Thursdays 11am – 1:30pm
Harlow – STARS/Open Road Every 4 weeks. 11:00-14:20.

For people who are unable to access any of these services, there are other alternative forms of support available.

There are treatment centres available across the region in the following locations:

  • Basildon
  • Bedford
  • Cambridge
  • Great Yarmouth
  • Ipswich
  • Luton
  • Norwich
  • Peterborough
  • Southend

  • In HCV out-reach clinics
  • In Drug and Alcohol services
  • In GP out reach
  • In prisons

How to perform a Hepatitis-C test at home

If you have requested, or are thinking of requesting, a free Hep C test kit to use at home, please watch this short video which will explain how to perform your test and read your results.

Link: https://vimeo.com/790746761

Treatment for Hep C

Is there treatment for HCV?
Yes.

  • Treatment cures 95% of people.
  • Available for free on the NHS
  • With tablets that are easy to take with very few side effects
  • Short length of treatment (8 to 12 weeks)

Treatment is offered at an HCV clinic as close to you as possible.

More information