Resources

This paper sets out the next steps for the Greater Manchester Hepatitis C Strategy (GMHCVS), which was formed in response to the national Hepatitis C Strategy in 2004 and increasing local recognition of a need to improve local services in Greater Manchester (GM). Hepatitis C is a serious public health issue for the North West and Greater Manchester in particular has consistently has the highest rates of infection in injecting drug users in the country.

This is a new era for public health, with a higher priority and dedicated resources. This White Paper outlines the Government's commitment to protecting the population from serious health threats; helping people live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives; and improving the health of the poorest, fastest. It responds to Professor Sir Michael Marmot’s Fair Society, Healthy Lives1 report and adopts its life course framework for tackling the wider social determinants of health.

Health equity audit (HEA) is a key tool used to identify how fairly services or resources are distributed between population groups. This HEA report was commissioned by the Greater Manchester Hepatitis C Strategy (GMHCVS) and is the first Health equity audit focusing on HCV in Greater Manchester. The report aims to explore how recent service provision around prevention, testing and treatment in services has reflected patterns of need in relation to 5 key dimensions; age, gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity and accessibility (service numbers and geography) across Greater Manchester.

This document provides an executive summary of Greater Manchester's Teaching and Training Needs Assessment, which will facilitate the development of a range of high quality courses designed to meet identified local needs by mapping the current provision of courses in Greater Manchester about hepatitis C (HCV) for all health care professionals (HCP) and others working with high risk groups, and accurately assessing local training requirement at Primary Care Trust (PCT) and service level.