Peer Support Lead

37.5 hrs per week, 25 days’ annual leave + additional Christmas leave

About the Hepatitis C Trust

The Hepatitis C Trust (HCT) is a national charity and has been operating since 2001. We provide information, advocacy, services, and individual support, working with prisons and health systems across the UK to increase awareness, diagnosis, treatment and care. Established in 2000, we are a patient-led and patient-run organisation and a key part of the UK’s strategy to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health problem by 2030.

The Hepatitis C Trust is committed to equality, diversity, inclusion, and the wellbeing of our staff. We welcome applications from all sections of the community. We are a signatory of the Race at Work Charter. We are a Living Wage employer. We are happy to discuss flexible working.  

Project overview

The Hepatitis C Trust has developed interventions nationally whereby peers use their lived experience of injecting drug use and hepatitis C (HCV), to provide education and training to clients and staff in drug service, increasing HCV awareness. Peers promote and deliver HCV testing, support patients along the care pathway, and liaise with local outreach clinics and Hepatitis C Operational Delivery Network (ODN) lead hospitals, to ensure continuity of high-quality care for people living with HCV.

The Bristol & Severn ODN is committed to reducing health inequalities and eliminating hepatitis C and across all its communities. In partnership with the ODN, the Hepatitis C Trust’s Follow Me project’s activities have evolved to deliver services that underpin these aims.

Job summary

Led by the Peer Programme Manager and alongside a growing team, the Peer Support Lead will continue the development and support of volunteer peers across Bristol, and additionally Bath, Weston, and their surrounding areas. This will include developing relationships and partnership working with drug and alcohol, homeless services, and other community providers to identify and train new peers volunteers.

The Peer Support Lead will coordinate the delivery of educational workshops, promote and provide hepatitis C testing in various community settings, liaise and develop close working with local outreach clinics, clinical teams and ODN lead hospitals, and ensure that patients are supported through HCV treatment and care. Activity and data reporting are also a key element of the role.

The Peer Support Lead duties will include:

• Peer education: developing and coordinating a network of peers that will reach into communities of PWID’s across the Bristol & Severn ODN local area and deliver core messages about prevention, testing and access to treatment and care.
• Workforce development: coordinating training to drug and alcohol treatment provider staff (including clinical and non-clinical, paid and volunteers) about HCV and other blood borne viruses.
• Peer support: developing and coordinating a network of volunteer peers, with lived experience of substance and/or hepatitis C to provide practical and emotional support for those seeking or accessing HCV testing and treatment, especially to marginalised communities.
• Testing, treatment, and care: Promote and facilitate increased testing for HCV, targeting marginalised and disadvantaged communities and ensuring referral and ongoing support through treatment and harm reduction approaches to prevent reinfection and other harms among PWID.

Key Responsibilities

Peer Support

• Deliver workshops to clients in drug services, hostels, and other services working with people at risk of hepatitis C based on key HCV messages: prevention, diagnosis, patient rights, care and treatment.
• Identify and train a network of peers in the community to deliver core messages and provide one to one support where appropriate.
• Maintain regular contact with all peers to ensure their well-being and address any issues arising from the individual peers/buddies.
• Develop and maintain relations with local substance misuse and hostel providers, liaising with support providers to coordinate workshops, Talk and Test sessions and generate new bookings.
• Provide monthly progress reports and identify where additional support / training may be required.
• Support the building of a network of peers to support both media campaigns and the work of the Policy and Parliamentary team.
• Work collaboratively with the project Coordinator and The Hepatitis C Trust (HCT) staff team to ensure the successful delivery of our peer projects nationwide.
• Liaise with the outreach clinic to coordinate direct referrals made by the peers when they identify HCV+’s in the community.
• Maintain regular contact with individual organisational volunteer leads to ensure that all peers and buddies receive regular on-site supervision and support.