Practical suggestions to help prevention in primary care

Practical suggestions to help prevention in primary care:

• a) Provide hepatitis A and B vaccinations in all patients using drugs and other high risk groups such as men who have sex with men
• b) Provide clear information about safer injecting and safer sex including condoms
• c) Ensure that all patients using drugs have easy convenient access to local needle exchanges, which provide injecting paraphernalia as well as needles and syringes and advise about safer smoking and snorting of drugs
• d) Advise injectors of strategies how to move away from injecting
• e) Run a needle exchange in the surgery
• f) Discuss alcohol with all patients, advise to stop and treat or refer on any alcohol problem
• g) Provide drug treatment including substitute medication or refer to secondary agency for help
• h) Monitor weight and provide help with weight reduction (risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease which causes cirrhosis irrespective of any other causes) and provide nutrition advice and support people who are HCV positive to optimise their nutrition
• i) Advice all patients to stop smoking and explain to people who are HCV positive that smoking can increase progression

Reference:

1. RCGP (2007).Guidance for the prevention, testing, treatment and management of hepatitis C in primary care.