Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to develop the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HIV among NHS clinicians who do not specialise in HIV; what assessment he has made of the adequacy and extent of training on HIV for such clinicians; and if he will make a statement.

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, 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 and includes e-learning resources.

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.

NHS England commission HIV treatment and care services in-line with a detailed service specification. Non-specialist clinical services, including primary care might be able to deliver parts of the care pathway in discussion with specialist HIV care providers.