A ground-breaking project to eliminate a deadly virus in Cornwall has received a national award.

Addaction’s hepatitis C work has received national recognition by the Communique Awards, which showcase excellence and best practice in local and international healthcare communications by looking for initiatives that lead to real improvements in healthcare.

Addaction and the Hepatitis C Trust formed a partnership to bust the myths, misconceptions and stigma surrounding hepatitis C and encourage people at risk through injecting drugs to be tested and consider treatment.

A pioneering staff training programme up-skilled front-line workers, while an inspiring peer-to-peer support system encouraged people to get treated. Targeted communications to showcase the initiative helped to secure endorsement from local healthcare professionals and commissioners and drew plaudits from local politicians.

Addaction, the UK’s leading drugs and alcohol charity, runs services across Cornwall and launched the project with the aim of increasing testing and treatment for hepatitis C to a point where it will effectively be eradicated from communities.

Hepatitis C is vastly more infectious than HIV and is the most prevalent blood borne virus in the UK. Yet, alarmingly, it remains undiagnosed in the vast majority of cases and disproportionately affects marginalised people, with injecting drug users at greatest risk.

In 2014/15, 95.5 per cent of people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly eligible for a test had received one, compared to a national figure of 81.5 per cent.