Bristol HEPCAP
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Can the expansion of a capillary blood testing pilot service support the UK Hepatitis C elimination programme?
IRAS ID
365838
Contact name
Peter Muir
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
United Kingdom Health Security Agency
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Within the UK, Hepatitis C (HCV) is most common in people who inject drugs, a community who have many barriers accessing services due to competing priorities such as stigma and vein damage from injecting drugs. Innovative methodologies to increase testing alternatives to venepuncture in healthcare settings are required to increase testing accessibility. Diagnostic alternatives have included dry blood spot testing but this has a slow turnaround time which is associated with a high rate of loss to follow-up and is limited in ability to perform hepatitis C genotyping successfully which is used for treatment allocation. Capillary blood testing offers bespoke blood-borne virus testing within one sample (HIV, Hepatitis B, HCV including HCV genotypic testing) without the need for phlebotomy services, facilitating rapid management of HCV infection. This project will evaluate the expansion of capillary blood testing within the South West UK as a means of increasing HCV case finding within targeted populations. Through linkage of hepatology multidisciplinary team data, the impact of capillary blood testing on access to treatment and treatment outcome will be evaluated.
The project will include:
1. Prison service evaluation. An evaluation of a capillary blood testing (new implementation) vs dry blood spot testing (DBST; old testing method) in a prison setting. Key performance indicators will includeturn-around time of laboratory tests, time to initiating treatment, a sustained viral response at week 12 post treatment (SVR12) and number of patients lost to follow up. No additional blood samples required.
Within the UK, Hepatitis C (HCV) is most common in people who inject drugs, a community who have many barriers accessing services due to competing priorities such as stigma and vein damage from injecting drugs. Innovative methodologies to increase testing alternatives to venepuncture in healthcare settings are required to increase testing accessibility. Diagnostic alternatives have included dry blood spot testing but this has a slow turnaround time which is associated with a high rate of loss to follow-up. Capillary blood testing offers rapid bespoke blood-borne virus testing without the need for phlebotomy services, facilitating rapid management of HCV infection. This project will evaluate the expansion of capillary blood testing within the South West UK as a means of increasing HCV case finding within targeted populations. Through linkage of hepatology multidisciplinary team data, the impact of capillary blood testing on access to treatment and treatment outcome will be evaluated.
The project will include:
1. Prison service evaluation. An evaluation of a capillary blood testing (new implementation) vs dry blood spot testing (DBST; old testing method) in a prison setting. Key performance indicators will include turn-around time of laboratory tests, time to initiating treatment, a sustained viral response at week 12 post treatment (SVR12) and number of patients lost to follow up. An economic evaluation will also be undertaken.
3. Mobile testing unit evaluation. An evaluation of an expanded screening programme using a mobile testing unit with point-of-care HCV testing and postal submission of capillary blood samples for additional BBV laboratory testing, serving a homeless population. We will evaluate turnaround time of laboratory tests, and its relationship to initiation of treatment, achievement of SVR12 and loss to follow-up.
4. Evaluating design of services and evidence of acceptability through questionnaires of staff service usersREC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
26/WA/0174
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jun 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion