Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking, additional to the Public Health Outcomes Framework, to ensure that the benefits of early testing for HIV are realised.

Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of services to test and diagnose HIV. NHS England commissions treatment and care for those accessing HIV services from the point of HIV diagnosis onwards. Commissioners will take account of the British HIV Association standards, but these are not mandatory. Public Health England (PHE) has a comprehensive surveillance system that captures new HIV diagnoses and subsequent HIV care throughout the United Kingdom. These data are not only used to monitor the numbers living with HIV, but the quality of care received. This information directly informs the commissioning of HIV services which ensures data are complete and includes every individual in HIV care.

In the UK, PHE data demonstrate 97% of patients were linked to care within three months of diagnosis in 2015 and overall, 96% of people seen for HIV care received treatment with anti-retroviral therapy, and 94% of those treated achieved viral suppression. People with a suppressed viral load are extremely unlikely to pass on their infection. These data show that the benefits of early HIV testing are fully realised as the vast majority of people are rapidly linked to care, and effectively treated, so that they are no longer at risk from passing on their infection.