The implementation of a hepatitis C testing service in community pharmacies: I-COPTIC consensus statement

TY - JOUR

T1 - The implementation of a hepatitis C testing service in community pharmacies

T2 - I-COPTIC consensus statement

AU - Cook, C.

AU - Reid, L.

AU - Elsharkawy, A.M.

AU - Radley, A.

AU - Smith, S.

AU - McPherson, S.

AU - Crockford, D.

AU - Dillon, J.F.

AU - Wright, M.

AU - Morris, D.

AU - Malik, H.

AU - Keall, S.

AU - Powell, J.

AU - Catt, J.

AU - Hampton, H.

AU - Boothman, H.

AU - Shah, S.

AU - Spear, J.

AU - Ustianoski, A.

AU - John, P.

AU - Stevens, H.

AU - Khakoo, S.I.

AU - Parkes, J.

AU - Buchanan, R.M.

N1 - Copyright © 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health

PY - 2024/7

Y1 - 2024/7

N2 - OBJECTIVES: This aimed to develop a blueprint for an effective community pharmacy Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing service by producing a consensus statement.STUDY DESIGN: This was a modified Delphi process.METHODS: We recruited a heterogenous panel of experts (who had been involved in the setup or delivery of a community pharmacy HCV testing service) by purposive and chain referral methods. We had three rounds of a modified Delphi process. The first was a series of questions with free text responses and was analysed using thematic analysis, and the second and third were statements for the respondents to rate using a 7-point Likert scale. Consensus was predefined in a published protocol, and the results were reviewed by a public and patient involvement panel before the statement was finalised.RESULTS: We had 24 participants, including community and hospital-based pharmacists, local pharmaceutical committee members, charity representatives (Hepatitis C Trust), local clinical service lead, nurse specialists and doctors. The response rate of the first, second and third rounds were 100%, 96% and 88%, respectively. After the third round, we had 60 statements that reached consensus. We discussed the accepted statements with a patient and public involvement group. We used these statements to produce the I-COPTIC statement and a graphical summary.CONCLUSIONS: We developed a blueprint for the design of a gold standard community pharmacy HCV testing service. We believe this will support the successful implementation of community pharmacy testing for HCV. Community pharmacy testing is an important service to help achieve and maintain HCV elimination.

AB - OBJECTIVES: This aimed to develop a blueprint for an effective community pharmacy Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing service by producing a consensus statement.STUDY DESIGN: This was a modified Delphi process.METHODS: We recruited a heterogenous panel of experts (who had been involved in the setup or delivery of a community pharmacy HCV testing service) by purposive and chain referral methods. We had three rounds of a modified Delphi process. The first was a series of questions with free text responses and was analysed using thematic analysis, and the second and third were statements for the respondents to rate using a 7-point Likert scale. Consensus was predefined in a published protocol, and the results were reviewed by a public and patient involvement panel before the statement was finalised.RESULTS: We had 24 participants, including community and hospital-based pharmacists, local pharmaceutical committee members, charity representatives (Hepatitis C Trust), local clinical service lead, nurse specialists and doctors. The response rate of the first, second and third rounds were 100%, 96% and 88%, respectively. After the third round, we had 60 statements that reached consensus. We discussed the accepted statements with a patient and public involvement group. We used these statements to produce the I-COPTIC statement and a graphical summary.CONCLUSIONS: We developed a blueprint for the design of a gold standard community pharmacy HCV testing service. We believe this will support the successful implementation of community pharmacy testing for HCV. Community pharmacy testing is an important service to help achieve and maintain HCV elimination.

KW - Community

KW - Consensus

KW - Delphi

KW - Hepatitis C

KW - Pharmacy

KW - Testing

U2 - 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.04.017

DO - 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.04.017

M3 - Article

C2 - 38781782

SN - 0033-3506

VL - 232

SP - 153

EP - 160

JO - Public Health

JF - Public Health

ER -