EMIS Spotlight Issue 3

4

The role of primary care in Hepatitis C elimination

10/2023

Primary care has a vital role in eliminating Hepatitis C in England. Our partnership with NHS England (NHSE) and MSD supports new ways of working between primary and secondary care teams to proactively reach at-risk patients. The pilot of our Pathway solution has already helped two patients with Hepatitis C start life-saving treatment for the first time. The NHS England Hepatitis C elimination programme is working to eliminate the condition as a major public health issue in England ahead of the World Health Organisation target to do so by 2030. The programme has been a huge success, with 37% reduction in deaths from the virus, 52% reduction in the number of liver transplants, and more than 70,000 patients successfully treated. As NHSE progresses towards it’s elimination goals, it believes a final cohort of 20,000 patients are still to be reached – and many could be found within primary care data. Between each of those numbers there’s a life that is valued, so they need to be found and they need to be treated.” Kuldip Sembhi - National Programme Lead - HCV Elimination, MSD

Pathway, powered by EMIS-X We’ve been working in partnership with NHSE and MSD to use the Patient Search Identification tool developed by MSD into our Pathway solution. Piloting the solution with Cheshire and Merseyside Operational Delivery Network (ODN) allowed this team to search primary care data for coded Hepatitis C risk factors in patient records, and identify patients for review, testing and treatment.

Tools like Pathway show that there is a new way to work with primary care. We’re no longer waiting for GPs to refer into us - we’re actively going out, finding those patients in primary care, and bringing them to us.” David Byrne - ODN Manager, Cheshire & Merseyside ODN Powered by EMIS-X, pathway uses clinical intelligence to identify cohorts of at-risk patients for proactive diagnosis, treatment, and management. With the ability to create bespoke pathways, our solution is supported by data sharing agreements to help healthcare teams make early interventions in the best setting.