Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to reduce levels of mental health conditions of people living with HIV.

The Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living with HIV, which includes providing support for mental health conditions. As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified as key areas for greater integrated care systems leadership by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs). This will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including psychosocial support and mental health and counselling services, for a more holistic approach to care.

NHS England has now approved plans to fully delegate the commissioning of appropriate specialised services, including specialised HIV services, to ICBs in the East, the Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England will also continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs, including specialised HIV services, in the South West, South East, London and the North East and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025.

The national service specification sets out the requirement for agreeing pathways which define responsibility for meeting the non-HIV needs of patients and identify shared care, including clinical psychology and psychological support services. The NHS Talking Therapies Programme has also developed an e-learning module for Talking Therapies staff on HIV, which is available at the following link:

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/breaking-barriers-in-hiv-care/

This will enable therapists to support people with anxiety and depression related to the experience of having HIV. As per the NHS Talking Therapies Pathway for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms, from 2018/19 all NHS Talking Therapies services were commissioned to establish pathways for people living with long-term physical health conditions, as a key mechanism to ensure the delivery of increased access to psychological therapies.