SCALE-POCT: Scaling up point-of-care hepatitis C testing and treatment in Canada

Hepatitis C can be cured, yet Canada's multi-step diagnostic pathway loses people between the first test and treatment, especially those most affected, such as people who inject drugs. Point-of-care tests can return an antibody result in minutes and an RNA result in about an hour, opening the door to single-visit diagnosis. SCALE-POCT does not deliver testing itself: it studies how point-of-care testing could fit the services people already use, and what sites would need to adopt and sustain it.

Data collection is underway across 27 sites nationally (as of October 2026). Interviews with decision-makers and quality-assurance stakeholders are complete; interviews with service providers and clients, mixed-methods process mapping and focus groups are in progress at the sites.

Working with community organizations, correctional health services and clinics nationally, the team combines process mapping, interviews guided by implementation science frameworks, focus groups and economic analysis. For a participating site, this means process-mapping sessions, interviews and focus groups with providers, decision-makers and clients, and reviewing the tools co-designed with them.

• Care-pathway maps for hepatitis C testing and treatment across participating settings
• Co-designed implementation strategies and tools, such as training guides and standard procedures
• An implementation and evaluation framework for point-of-care hepatitis C testing in Canada
• Feasibility, acceptability and cost estimates for the co-designed strategies

Community organizations and clinics are study sites. People with lived experience sit on the community advisory board and steering committee, where they help interpret findings, choose implementation strategies and co-design materials. The study works with the CanHepC network and CIHR CTN+.