VHHITAL – Referral and support

Cancer Council Victoria

Linking patients living with hepatitis B to monitoring and treatment is fundamental to preventing liver cancer and improving outcomes. According to the Viral Hepatitis Mapping Project: National Report 2020, more than three quarters of people diagnosed with hepatitis B in Australia are not in care (either treatment or monitoring).

As part of helping health workers have a conversation with their patients on the importance of regular monitoring and treatment to prevent liver cancer, Cancer Council Victoria was recently funded by the Victorian Department of Health to develop a flipchart resource. This flipchart contains patient-facing pages with an image and some plain English information, and health worker pages which gives the doctor, nurse or allied health worker more information to verbally discuss with their patient.

• Liver Cancer Prevention Flipchart is available at screeningresources.cancervic.org.au/resources – filter under liver cancer and scroll down.

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, in collaboration with Cancer Council Victoria, has also recently developed a guided learning resource “Me, My Baby and Hepatitis B” that will support antenatal care providers to discuss hepatitis B testing, vaccination, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, management and liver cancer prevention. It also includes a Clinician’s Quick Guide on Hepatitis B testing and management in pregnancy and beyond.

• Antenatal Resources available Resources – St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (svhm.org.au)

For more information on both resources, please contact charissa.feng@cancervic.org.au

ASHM

ASHM have launched their Hepatitis B Referral and Clinical Support Resources, which can be viewed here.

These been developed for clinicians, especially those who do not routinely work in the hepatitis B space, at the point of hepatitis B diagnosis and initial engagement in care, supporting community-based referrals. They are a suite of complementary resources to guide a clinician through what needs to happen from their first point of contact with someone or diagnosis of hepatitis B, how to decide where their care is best placed, how to talk to them about this and do the referral. ​

The resources include:

• Next Steps Checklist​: This resource provides clear guidance to primary care clinicians on the next steps and clinical requirements around hepatitis B diagnosis and follow-up.
• Interactive Hepatitis B Referral Options​ Tool: This tool will help decide whether a primary care referral to an s100 prescriber is appropriate or if a tertiary referral to a specialist is required.
• Videos about supporting patient conversations​: These videos have been created to provide support and guidance when discussing various aspects of hepatitis B diagnosis and care.
• Patient resource regarding care options​: This resource was developed by Hepatitis Australia to explain options for care.
• Prescriber map and collegial communications tools: Includes a referral letter template, roles and responsibilities checklist and a template for ongoing clinical communication.