Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Answer of 20 July 2023 to 194469 on HIV Infection and Viral Diseases: Screening, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the opt-out HIV and blood-borne virus testing programme in tackling health inequalities.

On 9 November 2023, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published an evaluation of the first year of the bloodborne virus (BBV) opt-out testing in emergency departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. This includes a public health evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of the opt-out testing programme and assessment of any potential inequalities in the uptake of bloodborne virus testing and linkage to care.

Findings show that the programme has made a significant contribution to BBV testing in England with more than half the number of tests done in the programme compared to BBV tests in other settings. The programme has been particularly successful in engaging harder to reach groups, such as older people, women, people from non-white British backgrounds, and people living in the most deprived areas.

The UKHSA report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bloodborne-viruses-opt-out-testing-in-emergency-departments/emergency-department-bloodborne-virus-opt-out-testing-12-month-interim-report-2023