LJWG - search results

[…] for the Study of the Liver (BASL), the British Viral Hepatitis Group (BVHG), and the London Joint Working Group on Sub- stance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG) – but it would be very valuable to draw together what resources we have. From there, we can work to identify gaps. Actions for others » […]

With huge strides being made towards finally eradicating hep C it was vital that we kept up the momentum, heard delegates at LJWG’s Three years to go to elimination conference. ‘We now have three years to achieve our shared goal of elimination of hepatitis C as a public health issue in London,’ London Joint […]

Testing and treatment for hep C may have improved, but data sharing is lagging dangerously behind, warns a new LJWG report. Read the full article in DDN magazine NHS England’s target date to eliminate hepatitis C is 2025 – five years ahead of the World Health Organization’s 2030 target. It’s an ambitious objective, and […]

[…] mission is to eliminate HCV as a public health threat.’ Dee Cunniffe Formed in 2009, the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG) is a group of expert clinicians and patient advocacy and voluntary sector leads, working in collaboration with a wide group of stakeholders. Our common goal is […]

In January the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG) launched a new report on the case for a peer-based needle exchange in London – designed by, and run by, the people who know how these services can work best (see news, page 5). Peers have lived experience of […]

What does COVID-19 mean for hepatitis C elimination plans in London? Dee Cunniffe gives an update. Dee Cunniffe is LJWG project lead Two months ago, on 2 March, senior leaders from across the NHS, addictions sector and public health in London came together at City Hall to kick start work on a new routemap […]

[…] for blood-borne viruses between May and August this year, according to a new report from the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG). Of those who were tested for hepatitis C, more than one in ten were found to have antibodies for the virus, with 7 per cent identified […]

[…] specialist services, meanwhile, had hep C viral particles in their blood. A new report from the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG) highlights the need for further awareness-raising, as 57 per cent of those taking part were unaware that medical advances meant the virus could be treated with […]

[…] a peer-led needle and syringe exchange service in London, according to a new report from the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG). The group has been working with Hackney Council to look into the feasibility of developing a peer-led and delivered NSP with added hep C awareness and […]

Organisations and peers have risen admirably to the challenge of continuing the hep C elimination fight during the COVID crisis, heard delegates at LJWG’s annual conference. But the final steps towards elimination will be the hardest. DDN reports. ‘The last year has been incredibly tough for everyone, but it’s been inspiring to see how […]

[…] all need to make efforts to raise awareness and heighten perception,’ policy strategy facilitator for the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG), Dee Cunniffe, told the conference. ‘People are dying, and people are ill, and it’s not OK.’ Her organisation’s mission was to prevent new hepatitis C infections […]

[…] NEWS • APRIL 2021 Organisations and peers have risen admirably to the challenge of continuing the hep C elimination fight during the COVID crisis, heard delegates at LJWG’s annual conference. But the final steps towards elimination will be the hardest. DDN reports ‘The last year has been incredibly tough for everyone, but it’s been […]

[…] ribe to tihe new challengeb and, ab ai ‘new normal’ developb, enbure we continue to make progrebb to our goal of eliminating hepatitib C. Dee Cunniffe is LJWG project lead HEPATITIS C What does COVID-19 mean for hepatitis C elimination plans in London? Dee Cunniffe gives an update STAYING ON TRACK T wo monthb […]

[…] for much of the media coverage, but ‘if you look at the money there’s about £5m committed to that, and £700m on treatment and recovery’. co-chair of LJWG, Dr Emily Finch The acknowledgement that addiction was a chronic health condition was also ‘really helpful’, said Dr Emily Finch, vice chair of the NHS Addictions […]

[…] cases, there remain huge barriers to those attempting to access treatment. Through our new report, the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG) reveals that increasing the number of people treated with these medicines offers the potential to halve disease burden in ten to 20 years. This is an […]

[…] England’s target date to eliminate hepatitis C is now just six years away. DDN hears what progress has been made, and what’s left to achieve, at the LJWG on Substance Use and Hepatitis C annual conference. Read the full article in DDN Magazine ‘The strategy from NHS England has always been to eradicate hepatitis […]

[…] ‘We’ve been through this  terrible pandemic afnd when it  started people said itf would be  a great leveller – but as ever, of  course it was not,’ said senior  Vasakna | Dreamstime.com COUNTDOWN  TO ELIMINATION  ‘I felt shock and fear, because  there’s such a lot of stigma around  hepatitis C,’ said Rory O’Donnell,  who was recently diagnosed  through a blood spot test at a drug  service. ‘I wasn’t aware that I was  at risk, even though I’d injected.  And I never realised that it could  be cured.’  He’d started treatment of  one-tablet per day, but found  he’d cleared the virus after just  one month of the three-month  treatment period and was now  planning to work afs a peer  mentor.  With huge strides being made towards finally  eradicating hep b it was vital that we kept up  the momentum, heard delegates at  LJWG’s  Three bears to go to elimination conference advisor the mayor of bondon on  health policy, Dr Tom Coffey. The  fact that the poorest bondoners  were most likely to get – and  die from – COVID mirrored the  situation with hep C. ‘A treatable  condition, but again it affects the  poorest – people in prisofn, people  who are drug users, the homeless.  But what gives me hope is our  work with HIV,’ with very ambitious  targets being met, he fsaid. ‘What  we’ve done with HIV, we can do  with hep C. So it’s really important  that we do outreach work to  identify people like Rory who are  unaware they have the virus.’  PACE OF CHANGE The pace of change fhad been  extraordinary, and the headlinef  was that fewer people were dying  or getting cancer ffrom hep C, said  NHS England’s hepatitis C clinical  lead, Professor Graham Foster.  ‘Four or five years ago when I safid  […]

[…] many organisations, including the Scottish Government, have realised the value of people with authentic experience in collaborating on the ‘national mission on drug deaths’ (page 5). The LJWG are among those to go further by making the case for peers as the best people for the job with the highest chance of attracting participation […]

[…] review finds that more than 11m people are being prescribed potentially addictive drugs – up to a third of them for three years or more. Meanwhile an LJWG report warns that data sharing will need to be radically improved if the hep C elimination target is really going to be met. OCTOBER A report […]

[…] help those who have been diagnosed but remain untreated to engage with services. A recent report from the London Joint Working Group on Substance Use and Hepatitis C ( LJWG) found that differing electronic patient record systems and confusion around data protection issues were hampering efficient data sharing among services engaged with people with hep C […]

[…] rates of drug-related deaths.   MAY In what could help show the way forward in eliminating hep C, a report from the London Joint Working Group ( LJWG) reveals that a four-month community testing pilot project in pharmacies with needle exchange facilities has seen 50 per cent of people testing positive. Significantly, almost 60 […]

[…] conference season has been in full swing and we have reports from HIT Hot Topics (page 12) and the GPs’ conference (page 16). Our write-up of the LJWG’s event on hepatitis C will be in our next issue. The themes may be recurring but there are many new ideas, fresh inspiration and invigorating debates. […]

[…] et al. Hepatitis C, stigma and cure. 2013 3 HCV Advocate. A guide to stigma and hepatitis C. 2014 4 Treloar C et al. Understanding Barriers to Hepatitis C Virus. 2013 5 LJWG. Tackling the problem of hepatitis C 6 PHE. Improving access to, and completion of, hepatitis C treatment. 2015 May 2016 HCV/UK/16-03/CI/1335b hepc

LJWG policy lead Dee Cunniffe