Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what further steps they intend to take to ensure that HIV indicator conditions, such as shingles and glandular fever, are understood by medical professionals as an opportunity to offer a HIV test.

Health Education England has developed a number of e-learning sessions on Sexual Health and HIV across programmes designed for foundation trainees, general practitioners, dentists and radiologists, as well as specialists. The programmes cover topics such as HIV testing, the importance of early diagnosis and oral manifestations of HIV and AIDS. The content for these programmes is available to all National Health Service employees irrespective of their speciality.

The Department has funded the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health to produce resources to support non-specialist clinicians in primary and secondary care services to offer HIV testing to help reduce late diagnosis of HIV. This includes HIV Testing in Practice, an interactive web-based resource for primary care which went live in November 2014.