P244 An audit of hepatitis c testing in a sexual health service

Introduction With new effective treatments for hepatitis C (HCV), identifying cases is increasingly important. The BASHH Viral Hepatitis Guidelines (2015) recommend HCV screening in sexual health services for people at high-risk. We carried out a retrospective audit in our clinic. Methods We reviewed our patient records and laboratory database for HCV antibody (AB) tests between 1 st January 2015 – 30 th June 2016. The management of those HCV RNA positive was compared with the BASHH auditable standards (2015). Results From 56483 attendances, 12008 HCV AB tests were taken. 18/12008 cases were HCV AB positive of which 11 were also HCV RNA positive giving a prevalence of 0.09%. 8/11 newly diagnosed; 6/11 male; 6/11 Eastern European, 3 White British, 2 Asian; 4 co-infected with HIV. Genotypes were available for 6/11 and of these 4 had G1a, 1 had G1b and 1 had G3a. 11/11 had LFTs/AFP (target 90%) and all had hepatitis B tests (target >95%). 11/11 were referred for ongoing care within 2 months (target 100%). All had a written follow up plan (target 97%) and all had a documented discussion regarding the natural history and transmission of HCV, but only 2 (18%) had documentation that written information was also given (target >95%). All had partner notification (target 97%). Discussion The prevalence of HCV infection in our screened population was lower than we expected (0.09%) for an area with a large migrant population. Our service met all auditable standards in management except for documenting that written information had been given.