Community Nursing Role in Hepatitis C Treatment: Westminster Borough

This report discusses Hepatitis C prevalence in Westminster Borough, highlighting the critical role of community nursing practitioners in promoting treatment and implementing preventive measures. It examines local and national data to understand the needs of affected populations and analyzes the application of Tannahill's model of health promotion to provide protection, prevention, and education related to Hepatitis C. The report emphasizes the importance of healthcare professionals' abilities to assess individual needs, promote health within the community, and implement evidence-based strategies in alignment with WHO guidelines. It concludes with recommendations for improving health literacy and providing specialized training for nursing professionals to effectively address the ongoing challenges of Hepatitis C in high-risk areas.

Running head: ADULT COMMUNITY NURSING
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Summary
Hepatitis C is a viral blood borne disorder, prevalence of which is increasing
significantly in these recent years and affecting both the developing as well as the developed
nations. This blood borne disease is termed as the “silent Killer” due to which people are
unable to understand the occurrence of it, even after being infected with this severe disease.
In this paper discussion about the Hepatitis C disease among the population of Westminster
Borough has been discussed which has seen to have second highest prevalence and incidence
rates of hepatitis C and due to this, the UK government has taken multiple steps, including
merger with WHO to implement the WHO based evidence based strategies so that with these
effective interventions, the prevalence and rates of hepatitis could be decreased. Further, the
paper also discusses about the healthcare professionals and their abilities to assess the needs
and requirements of the individuals suffering from the concerns, as well as their abilities to
promote their health among the society. Finally, in this paper, application of ‘Tannahill's
model of health promotion” has been achieved so that people could be provided with
protection, prevention and education related hepatitis C in their societies with the application
of health promotion program.
Introduction
Hepatitis C is a blood borne viral disease that is affecting more than 130 million
people nowadays and despite the awareness and promotional campaigns developed and
implemented by the leadings healthcare organisations, the prevalence of this disease is
increasing Miotto et al. (2017). As mentioned by Westermann et al. (2016), Hepatitis C
transmits through minimal exposure of blood to the host body and due to its delayed as well
as dormant symptoms in the host body, people suffering from this infections are unaware of
this occurrence.

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Westminster Borough, a governmental district situated in the city of central London,
has also been suffering from higher prevalence of Hepatitis C infection and it was seen in the
governmental data that more than 3100 people are affected with this condition (Public
Health England 2015). Besides this, the report also mentioned that every year more than 150
new cases of Hepatitis C infection is diagnosed (Public Health England 2018).
Multiple healthcare promotional plans and services are being introduced in the
Westminster Borough so that people and their complicated Hepatitis condition could be
addressed. One such third sector organisation Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service (DAWS)
involved in this process are associated with Hepatitis C treatment in London so that the needs
and requirements of the communities could be met (Government of United Kingdom 2019).
The primary aim of this report is to critically analyse the role and responsibility of the
community nursing practitioners in promotion of the Hepatitis C treatment as well as analyse
the local and national governmental data to understand the needs and requirements of the
population affected with the health complication. Finally, it would include the ethical
principles and theories of the health promotion and its application in the public healthcare
interventions so that evidence based critical discussion about the process could be achieved.
Discussion
Local and national data of Hepatitis C prevalence
As per the local data provided by the Government of United Kingdom (2019), the
prevalence of Hepatitis C infection is higher in several groups such as people who inject
drugs (PWID), infected blood transfusion, prisoners, babies that are born from the Hepatitis
infected mothers. Further, homosexual men and women and people living in hostels or
homeless were also found to be highly infected with this disease condition. However, within
these aspects, PWID is the group of which the maximum number of cases has been reported

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(16883 with 90% of prevalence) (All-Party Parliamentary Group 2018). Within this the
Westminster Borough is the second highest area where people are affected with Hepatitis C
or are showing high prevalence of this disease (after the Lambeth Borough). Besides this, the
data also mentioned that 69% of the population are not aware of their severe Hepatitis
infection and due to this they become the carrier of this infection. Hence, in such condition of
high prevalence and dormant disease condition, as per the World Health Organisation (2018),
it is important for the local and national government to develop and implement diagnostic and
treatment measures in the local health facilities. To fulfil this need and requirement of the
population with high risk and prevalence of Hepatitis C, the local government of Westminster
Borough has developed multi diagnostic laboratories and through this, 31% increase in the
rates of Hepatitis C has been observed. Besides this, with the help of governmental aids and
support, Drug and Alcoholic Wellbeing Service has been developed and implemented in the
care process so that PWID, which highest rates of Hepatitis infection could be provided with
effective treatment and preventive measures (McLauchlan et al. 2017). Hence, through this
analysis, it is observed that the local and national government is able to address the needs and
requirements of the patients that are suffering from critical healthcare conditions.
Roles and responsibilities of the nursing professionals
As the community of Westminster Borough is the second most affected community
with respect to the occurrence of Hepatitis C and it is seen that every year more than 150
cases are registered in healthcare facilities, the roles and responsibilities of nursing
professionals become crucial (Public Health England 2015). As per World Health
Organization (2018), in the year 2016, the UK healthcare ministry singed up with World
Health Organisation so that the healthcare policies applied by the WHO could be used in
areas with high risk of Hepatitis infection. As per the Public Health England (2019), it is
mentioned that two primary strategy was implemented to addresses the need of the patients.

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These are, decreasing the number of newly affected individuals, and then reduce the mortality
or severely of the patients that are already affected (Public Health England 2018).
As mentioned by Said et al. (2014), it was an effective step undertaken by the
professionals so that people could be provided with preventive measures and effective
interventions that are globally applied. Hence, evidence based care was implemented in the
healthcare facilities of London and consequently in Westminster Borough (Nursing and
Midwifery Council 2015). Further, with services of governmental and non-governmental
organisations such as the Drug and Alcohol Wellbeing Service, the nursing and healthcare
professionals conducted their roles and responsibilities effectively by spreading awareness
about the disease and encouraging population to take effective measures for this “Silent
Killer” disease (Westbrook and Dusheiko 2014).
Health promotion model
In this critical and crucial condition of Westminster Borough, application of health
promotion framework for addressing such critical condition becomes important (Sharma
2016). As mentioned by Raingruber (2014) health promotion framework are the aspects due
to which, people of a specific community or locality increase their health literacy about any
specific disease and hence, it helps to decreasing the prevalence of this disease. In such
condition, application of Tannahill's model of health promotion should be included in the
Westminster Borough for the promotion of healthcare knowledge about Hepatitis C infection
prevention and treatment (Hou 2014). This health promotion model is inclusive of three
aspects such as increasing the public health education, developing health protectiveness and
then developing preventive measures so that people could understand the effectiveness of it.
Application of this health promotional model for the complication of Hepatitis C infection
would help to prevent, educate and protect the community of Westminster Borough so that
their rate of prevalence of this disorder could decrease and they could implement the

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intervention strategies in their health care process (National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence 2012). Further as per Hou (2014), application of this health promotional problem
would help the local population by safeguarding their legislative, financial and social
healthcare measures (Raingruber 2014).
Conclusion and recommendations
In conclusion, it could be said that Hepatitis has increased prevalence among
populations around the world and with developing and third world countries, the developed
nations are also suffering from critical aspects of this severe viral blood borne disease.
Westminster Borough, situated in the central London and as per the data collected from the
UK governmental reports, the prevalence of this disorder is higher in this local area and the
government as well as local non-governmental organisations are implementing WHO
frameworks and strategies to decrease the rate of Hepatitis among the population and
providing preventive and intervention measures to the patients, that already acquired the
disease. This paper provided a detailed analysis of the need and requirements of the
population of Westminster Borough and then with the help of Tannahill's model of health
promotion so that protection, education and prevention of the population from the Hepatitis C
condition could be achieved. However, there are some other aspects that should be
implemented by the healthcare professionals in the Westminster Borough so that the
prevalence of this disorder could be decreased. These are:
 The local and national government should focus on health literacy using mass
media, social media and print media in the locations with increased cases of
hepatitis infection, so that people can be educated about the preventive
measures and interventions effectively (Westermann et al. 2016).

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 Nursing professionals should be provide with education and training for the
WHO driven framework against the Hepatitis condition, so that people could
be provide with effective interventions (Miotto et al. 2017).
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