In 2021, during a drug-related death crisis in the UK, the Government published its ten-year drugs strategy. This article, written in collaboration with the Faculty of Public Health and the Association of Directors of Public Health, assesses whether this Strategy is evidence-based and consistent with international calls to promote public health approaches to drugs, which put ‘people, health and human rights at the centre’. Elements of the Strategy are welcome, including the promise of significant funding for drug treatment services, the effects of which will depend on how it is utilized by services and local commissioners and whether it is sustained. However, unevidenced and harmful measures to deter drug use by means of punishment continue to be promoted, which will have deleterious impacts on people who use drugs. An effective public health approach to drugs should tackle population-level risk factors, which may predispose to harmful patterns of drug use, including adverse childhood experiences and socioeconomic deprivation, and institute evidence-based measures to mitigate drug-related harm. This would likely be more effective, and just, than the continuation of policies rooted in enforcement. A more dramatic re-orientation of UK drug policy than that offered by the Strategy is overdue.

Introduction To meet and maintain World Health Organisation Hepatitis C (HCV) elimination target, it is essential that testing is scaled up and targeted at high-risk individuals. In September 2020 NHS England (NHSE) commissioned an advanced service to test people who inject drugs for HCV in

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Objective The World Health Organisation aims to eliminate Hepatitis C (HCV) by 2030. To achieve this, targeted testing needs to be widely available. Studies have demonstrated that community pharmacies can deliver effective targeted testing for HCV and the National Health Service in England has commissioned a national service. However, a recent survey of HCV operational delivery networks has shown limited uptake of this service. The objective of this protocol is to guide the formation of a consensus statement to facilitate the widespread implementation of community pharmacy-based targeted testing for HCV. Method We will use a modified Delphi method. A purposive selection of panel participants will be identified and recruited from a national survey and via chain-referral sampling. The main inclusion criteria for selection is direct involvement in the implementation of an HCV testing service in pharmacies. We aim for a heterogenous group, encompassing all aspects of the testing service. We will conduct a three round Delphi. The first round will consist of open questions which will be qualitatively analysed using thematic analysis with a framework method based on the WHO Health Systems Framework. This analysis will generate statements, that will be sent to the participants in the second round. A third round will be used where consensus is not reached. Conclusions The findings from this Delphi consensus study will facilitate the widespread implementation of targeted testing for HCV in community pharmacies.

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