GPs should offer HIV tests in routine appointments

GPs should offer HIV tests in routine appointments GPs and hospital doctors in areas where HIV infection is relatively common should offer millions of patients HIV testing when they attend for unrelated or routine appointments, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended this morning. In new guidance that focuses on strategies to reduce barriers to HIV testing to increase uptake, NICE said that, in areas of high HIV prevalence, people should be recommended to have an HIV test when they register with a GP practice or when they have a blood test for a different reason, unless they have already been diagnosed with HIV – but GPs are concerned about lack of resources and funding, as well as the difficulty of raising the subject of HIV testing in an unrelated consultation. OnMedica

See also:

• HIV services: collaboration in a time of fragmentation The King's Fund
• Health matters: increasing the uptake of HIV testing Public Health England
• Research and analysis: HIV in the United Kingdom Public Health England
• 13,500 people living with an undiagnosed HIV infection in the UK  Public Health England
• NICE says 11 million people should be HIV tested but it'll cost £77m The Daily Mail
• 1 in 6 Britons should be tested for HIV as they live in 'high risk areas', new guidelines say The Daily Mail
• GPs should offer HIV tests to all new patients in high prevalence areas, NICE says GP Online