Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 23 February 2023 to Question 147435 on HIV Infection: Screening, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of opt-out blood-borne virus testing in ambulance and emergency departments in areas with a high prevalence of HIV in London.

NHS England has committed £20 million between 2022 and 2025 to fund the expansion of HIV opt-out testing in accident and emergency (A&E) departments in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. To further maximise the opportunity afforded by the funding for HIV opt-out testing, NHS England decided to implement a combined blood borne viruses (BBV) approach to include Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing alongside HIV. The NHS England London region took a decision to include all A&E departments in London the project, some of which were high HIV prevalence areas.

Data from NHS England indicates that this BBV opt-out testing initiative has helped find more than 900 people unaware they are living with HIV, or not accessing HIV care and over 2500 people living with, or not accessing care for Hepatitis B and over 1000 people living with or not accessing care for Hepatitis C during the first 18 months of the programme.

On 9 November 2023, the UK Health Security Agency published an evaluation of the first year of the BBV opt-out testing in A&E departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. Findings show that the programme has made a significant contribution to BBV testing in England with more than half the number of tests done in the programme compared to BBV tests in other settings.

After careful consideration of the available evidence, the Government has now also committed £20 million to fund new research, commissioned through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), that will involve an expansion and evaluation of BBV opt out testing in a further 47 emergency departments, in high prevalence HIV areas across England (2 or more HIV cases per 1,000 residents). Funding will support 12 months of testing for each emergency department, to begin during the next financial year.