Excellence in Healthcare Partnerships

Summary of work

To support NHS England’s drive to eliminate hepatitis C (HCV) by 2025, the Hepatitis C Coalition embarked on a project to increase the uptake of testing and treatment of HCV in prisons, by raising awareness and building advocates in the justice sector. We worked to get justice sector policymakers and individual prison governors on board through a variety of activities including a high-profile roundtable on HCV in prisons with NHS England attended by key stakeholders to build consensus, and produced an accompanying solutions-focused report; placed opinion pieces in targeted media; produced awareness-raising material for prison keyworkers; we gained the support of the Prison Governors’ Association, attended its annual conference and brought individual governors into the Coalition as members. We also influenced the development of the National Probation Service Health Strategy, advocating for continuity of care for prisoners and a joined-up pathway. We successfully built strong and resilient relationships with representatives from NHSE, PHE, the MoJ, HMPPS and DHSC which has led to closer collaboration on wider aspects of the HCV Elimination Programme. Ultimately, testing and treatment rates in prisons have increased and NHSE considers the prison estate to be one of the biggest successes so far in the Elimination Programme.

Judges' comments

There was great support for this entry amongst the judges. It was a comprehensive and well thought through campaign, tackling a very big challenge – increasing testing and treatment of HCV in prisons. It achieved engagement at the highest levels, cutting through to galvanise a wide range of disparate groups. More than that it showed convincing evidence that the needle is starting to shift.