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Tuesday, 22 March 2005 10:30 | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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MPs have said that the Government's battle against hepatitis C infections lacks urgency and funding.
A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hepatology said an action plan launched last year was "inadequate". The committee of MPs called on the Government to revise its plans as a "matter of urgency".
The MPs' report - The Hepatitis C Scandal - calls for greater investment from the Government to deal with the virus and a proactive screening programme to target at-risk groups. It said these should include women who have had a Caesarean birth and people who received a blood transfusion before screening for the virus was introduced in 1991.
David Amess, chairman of the APPG, said: "This report highlights the need for the NHS, and the individual Primary Care Trusts within it, to move hepatitis C much further up the agenda.
"It became clear during our investigation that the levels of service available were inadequate to cope well with even the current level of treatment offered to the 10-20% of people living with the virus who have been diagnosed.
"The Government should review as a matter of urgency both current service provision and plan for the inevitable increased burdens”.
Charles Gore, chief executive of leading the Hepatitis C Trust, said: "We are going to have to face the consequences of this disease and it is better to do it sooner rather than later.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people out there with hepatitis C who at the moment are undiagnosed and are a risk to themselves because they are not getting treatment and a risk to others because they could infect them".
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Our Hepatitis C Action Plan will help ensure that people who are infected with the disease are referred for specialist assessment and treatment and also take precautionary measures so that their infection isn't passed on to others.
"The awareness-raising campaigns for health professionals and the public are a crucial factor in helping combat the disease”.
She said the Action Plan which was currently being implemented across the NHS also set out a framework for improvements to prevention, diagnosis and treatment services and to boost research.
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