NHS Plans to Extend Hepatitis C Contracting Model to Other Diseases
Key Developments:
- NHS plans to expand its Hep C contracting approach to other diseases.
- The model aims to improve value and access to innovative treatments.
- NHS policy is shifting toward longer-term, outcome-focused healthcare contracts.
LONDON (Navlin Daily) — August 15, 2026: The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is looking to build on the contracting approach used in its hepatitis C programme and explore whether similar models can be applied to other disease areas.
The development reflects a wider shift in NHS commissioning toward arrangements designed to improve value for money, encourage collaboration and focus more closely on patient outcomes.
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The move comes as NHS England continues to implement changes to healthcare commissioning and contracting under its longer-term reform programme. Current NHS guidance already provides for a range of specialised services to be contracted through integrated care board (ICB)-led arrangements, while some services remain under national commissioning.
Hepatitis C Model provides Template
The NHS’s hepatitis C programme has involved collaboration between NHS organisations, pharmaceutical companies and other partners to identify and treat people living with the virus.
NHS England’s hepatitis C clinical network specification states that the national programme involves collaboration between NHS England, the Hepatitis C Trust, operational delivery networks, the pharmaceutical industry, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK Health Security Agency.
The programme has also used arrangements under which hepatitis C treatment costs are reimbursed according to actual expenditure reported by NHS trusts. NHS England’s current financial guidance retains this approach for hepatitis C and certain other high-cost medicines.
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The experience has provided the NHS with a potential model for examining how pharmaceutical contracting can be structured around population needs, treatment access and the effective use of public resources.
Wider NHS Contracting Reforms
The potential expansion of the model comes against broader changes to NHS commissioning in England.
Under current NHS England guidance for 2026/27, regions are encouraged to work with ICBs to place acute specialised services within ICB-led contracts where appropriate. NHS England can remain an associate named commissioner for services that it continues to retain responsibility for.
The government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England has also proposed longer-term, capitation-based contracting as part of a move toward integrated health organisations. The plan says these organisations are intended to focus on population health, prevention, reducing inequalities and shifting resources from hospitals toward community care.
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The plan states that new integrated health organisations are intended to begin being designated in 2026, with a view to becoming operational in 2027.
Focus on Value and Patient Outcomes
NHS England’s financial framework places increasing emphasis on reducing waste, improving productivity and ensuring that healthcare resources deliver value for patients and taxpayers. Its 2026/27 planning guidance calls for a continued focus on efficiency while requiring NHS organisations to maintain financial balance.
The NHS is also reviewing how specialised services are commissioned, with NHS England stating that it has examined functions currently retained nationally to determine whether some could be delegated or transferred in the future. Any transfer of statutory commissioning responsibilities requiring changes to legislation would remain subject to parliamentary approval.
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For pharmaceutical contracting, the approach could potentially provide the NHS with greater flexibility to negotiate arrangements that reflect treatment costs, patient numbers and health outcomes. However, the precise diseases and therapies that could be covered by an expanded model would depend on future commissioning decisions.
Hepatitis C remains a Key Public Health Priority
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that can cause chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer. NHS England says antiviral medicines can cure more than 95% of people with hepatitis C, although access to diagnosis and treatment remains an international challenge.
Recent attention on hepatitis elimination has also continued internationally. The 16th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference was held in Fremantle from 12 to 14 August 2026, bringing together healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers and people affected by viral hepatitis to discuss prevention, testing, treatment and elimination efforts.
If you live in England and are worried that you may be at risk of hepatitis C, you can order a confidential test online through their website. CREDIT: NHS.
The NHS’s experience with hepatitis C therefore comes at a time when health systems are examining new ways to combine treatment access, pharmaceutical partnerships and efficient use of public healthcare funding.
Any expansion of the contracting approach to other diseases will ultimately need to be assessed on clinical effectiveness, affordability, transparency and patient outcomes rather than on commercial considerations alone.
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