The Senedd will be asked by the Welsh Conservatives to back calls for the elimination of Hepatitis C by the end of the decade as the target risks slipping away after the disruption of the pandemic.
To achieve this, the Welsh Government will be called upon to develop a national strategic plan alongside ensuring health boards properly fund and are held accountable for delivering it.
Ministers will also need to mandate the re-establishment of frontline blood borne virus and harm reduction services in all health board areas, so that the identification, testing, linkage to care and treatment of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients in Wales can resume.
Wales has made good progress towards eliminating HCV by establishing a highly effective national clinical network, as well as having equitable and transparent access to treatment right across the country.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted frontline service delivery in Wales. Routine health services, including many BBV services, have been severely disrupted. 1-in-5 people in Wales are on an NHS waiting list because of the Labour Government’s inability to tackle the backlog.
There has already been successes including achieving the elimination of HCV in the prison population of HMP Swansea (the first remand prison in the UK), as well as successfully transplanting and treating the organs from infected donors with HCV to new recipients – another UK first.
HCV is a blood borne virus that predominantly affects the liver. It is estimated that 118,000 people are chronically infected with HCV in the UK, and about 12,000 of these are in Wales. HCV is spread through blood-to-blood contact, with around 90% of cases in the UK due to current or former injecting drug use.
Commenting ahead of the debate, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:
“Given the small number of people with Hepatitis C in Wales, we should use this opportunity to eliminate this disease before it can spread further.
“Good work has already been done to do this but given the way the pandemic has affected our public services and the inability of the Labour Government to get a grip on them means the target to eliminate Hep C is in jeopardy.
“We need a reestablishment of fully funded and accountable frontline blood borne virus and harm reduction services in addition to a national strategic plan to deliver on our shared aspiration.
“The opportunity is there to if we are willing to take it and I urge the Senedd to back our motion and vote down the Labour amendment that removes the much-needed impetus to act.”
