Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010: proposed amendments which closed on 15 November 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the inclusion of (a) gonorrhoea and (b) syphilis in the list of notifiable diseases on the (i) principle of confidentiality for sexual health service users and (ii) willingness of individuals to access sexual health services.

Patient confidentiality is of vital importance to retain patients’ trust in sexual health services, and to encourage access to advice, testing, diagnosis, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

A public consultation seeking views on proposals to amend the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 was held between 12 July and 15 November 2023. This included the proposal to add specific STIs to schedule 2 of the regulations to strengthen surveillance. The consultation asked for views on the consequences of this change, including whether it could negatively impact public trust in the confidentiality of sexual health services and data and risk creating a barrier to accessing sexual services.

The Department and the UK Health Security Agency are considering the responses to the consultation and are grateful for stakeholders’ continued engagement on this topic.