Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS workforce training on HIV (a) awareness and (b) treatment.

The standard of training for health care professionals is the responsibility of the independent, statutory health care regulatory bodies and higher education institutions who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and determine the content of their curriculum, in line with General Medical Council guidelines.

Individual National Health Service trusts are responsible for investing in post-registration training to ensure that staff can effectively deliver sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV treatment. In addition, NHS England’s e-Learning for Healthcare includes a range of programmes and material which focus on HIV.

The Department, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing a new HIV Action Plan and considering the next steps needed for the workforce within it. We aim to publish this by summer 2025.