Infectious Diseases: Screening

(asked on 22nd May 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of data gathered from the first year of opt-out blood-borne virus testing; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending that testing to all areas with a high prevalence of HIV.


Answered by
Neil O'Brien Portrait
Neil O'Brien
This question was answered on 25th May 2023

We are assessing all the evidence from the first year of the opt-out testing programme for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and blood-borne viruses in emergency departments, alongside the data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and HIV related deaths within England by 2030.

This data will be used to examine the feasibility of further expanding the programme, including in areas with a high HIV prevalence and we will be sharing evidence as it emerges to support other areas of the country to make the case for implementing the same approach locally. A decision will be made in due course.

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