Hepatitis services at an injecting drug user outreach clinic

Aims. To provide a culturally appropriate, accessible and affordable hepati tis outreach clinic for injecting drug users, a traditionally hard-to-reach population. Methods. The community-based clinic, a collaborative project between the We llington Drugs and Health Development Project and Capital Coast Health, was established in Wellington in 1997. Characteristics of the first 100 inject ing drug users with hepatitis C assessed through the clinic are presented. Results. Of 51 patients found to be hepatitis C positive, five have receive d hepatitis C treatment, four at the outreach and one at a base hospital. 2 5 have been vaccinated for hepatitis B. The clinic has established trust an d rapport with the injecting-drug-user community. Conclusions. The hepatitis outreach clinic is an innovative project, crossi ng the primary/secondary interface of health services provision and providi ng personal health services within a public health initiative. The success of this model indicates potential value in offering outreach hepatitis clin ics for injecting drug users in the major cities to close a gap in health s ervice provision.