Innovating access to the nurse-led hepatitis C clinic using co-production

Background

Many reasons for missed appointments are given by people who inject drugs and it is suggested that one solution cannot solve this complex issue (Poll et al., 2017). Increasingly, nurses and other health professionals are expected to actively involve patients and service users in developing innovative, effective and accessible services. This project used co-production as the approach to address this challenge.

Aims

This paper describes how a co-production method was used to develop accessible nurse-led hepatitis C virus services for people who inject drugs.

Methods

Using research evidence from a study conducted by the lead author as a starting point, a series of co-production workshops were run using creative co-design methods to identify the barriers to engagement with clinics. Potential solutions were then co-produced.

Results

The solutions included myth-busting posters, peer-support, a mobile clinic van and the offer of incentives and enablers (travel costs or a reward for attendance).

Conclusions

The service-development project illustrates how, with the right methods, it is possible to successfully engage with hard-to-access groups to co-produce innovative solutions for an important clinical challenge.