Prestigious honour for medics dealing with deadly disease
SWANSEA Bay’s Hepatology and Blood Borne Virus Team has shared a win in the British Medical Journal Awards for its work on a hepatitis C elimination project.
The team has been working alongside Public Health Wales and health boards across Wales to vastly increase the number of patients with the liver infection being treated, resulting in a remarkable cure rate of 95%, at least equivalent to other major international centres.
The work has been now been recognised by the British Medical Journal and the team has been named winners of the Clinical Leadership category in its 2020 awards.
Nationally-collated figures demonstrate a decline in hepatitis C-related liver transplantation and related deaths. Prior to the project (2011-13) 604 patients were treated and 309 cured, but since the intervention (2015-19) 2,809 patients have been treated and about 2,654 cured.
The work has resulted in more than £29 million worth of savings to NHS Wales since October 2015. The project has also enabled the transplantation of hepatitis C-infected organs to non-infected individuals with
excellent results.
Curing hepatitis C reduces the risk of liver decompensation and the need for expensive treatments and interventions, including a liver transplant, which is a scarce resource due to the small number of donors, and prevents the onward transmission of the virus.
In Swansea Bay, the team has worked hard setting up commu
nity and prison clinics to treat hard-to-reach patients, enabling them to be the only team in Wales to achieve treatment targets year on year since 2015.
In what is seen as a first in the UK, Swansea Bay’s BBV Team has managed to eliminate hepatitis C from HMP Swansea.
Dr Chin Lye Ch’ng, a consultant on the team, said: “It was with great emotion we learnt
about the award and the recognition of the hard work of all the staff past and present. This would not be possible without the successive health ministers’ support, our national lead Dr Brendan Healy’s perseverance, Public Health Wales, and the managerial and clinical leadership shown across all health boards in Wales.
“In Swansea Bay we have excellent teams – primary care, community care, sexual health, homeless health and prison staff – in screening and identifying patients, clinical pharmacists and CNSS in managing the patients and the administrative staff that help us in providing a streamlined service.”
Helen Thompson-jones, a liver disease clinical nurse specialist (CNS) based in Singleton Hospital, said: “It has a been a privilege to be a part of this award-winning team. We are proud to have facilitated the first UK instance of HCV elimination in a remand prison. These achievements wouldn’t be possible without the dedication and hard work of all members of each team throughout Wales.”
The staff involved in the projects are consultants Dr Chin Lye Ch’ng and Dr Jagadish Nagaraj, Helen Thompson Jones, James Plant, Hayley Edwards and Lisa Hughes (all CNS), Jan Keauffling (homeless healthcare nurse), clinical pharmacists Sally Kneath, Paul John and Richard Evans, Michelle Tee (admin support) and Bethan Cadmore-phillips (support manager).
Each year more than 350 teams enter the prestigious BMJ Awards.