HIV blood testing to be rolled out to more hospitals

The government has announced that 46 more hospitals in England will roll out opt-out blood tests for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the new £20m scheme would lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment.

This comes ahead of Sir Elton John’s speech at an event in Parliament.

The rock legend urged ministers to do more to meet the target of eliminating new HIV cases in England by 2030.

Under the plan, anyone who has a blood test at selected hospital emergency departments will also be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, unless they opt out.

The trials were run over the past 18 months at 33 hospitals in London, Greater Manchester, Sussex and Blackpool, where prevalence rates were rated “very high” by the NHS.

Figures released earlier by the NHS showed that since April 2022, the pilot projects have identified more than 3,500 cases of these three blood-borne infections, including more than 580 cases of HIV.

Opt-out testing will now be available in areas with higher HIV infection rates, including the West Midlands, Liverpool and Leicester, following the government announcement.

It is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

“The more people we can diagnose, the better chance we have of ending new spread of the virus and the stigma that is wrongly assigned to it,” Ms Atkins said.

She added that rolling out the test to more hospitals would help ensure early diagnosis so people “can get the support and care they need to not only live longer but improve their quality of life.”

Labor has pledged to immediately review the HIV action plan if elected.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “The incoming Labor government will act now because we must meet our target of ending new cases of HIV in the UK by 2030.”

The Labor leader praised Sir Elton for his “constant voice for the cause throughout his life”.

Sir Keir said: “He raised millions of pounds for frontline services and saved lives by breaking the stigma of losing one’s life in the dark. We are forever grateful for his dedication to public service and his life-saving work.”

Sam, whose real name has not been published, lives in Greater Manchester and is aged in his 40s. Last year, he went to the emergency room for a blood test after an accident.

“I got a call two days after I was in the ER,” he said, “just saying we had some concerns about the blood tests that were done. They asked me to come in and do some further tests.

“I wasn’t aware of the opt-out test at the time, so I wasn’t expecting to get a call from the health clinic. I thought it was about a survey or something about my experience in A&E.”

After two weeks of waiting, Sam was diagnosed with HIV.

“It feels like this is happening to someone else. I didn’t expect this. My family doesn’t know and I don’t want to cause them any pain.

“I felt like there was probably a lack of understanding of HIV and the ’80s and what it was like back then, which made me even more reluctant to tell them.”

The opt-out trial was designed to identify cases in a population less likely to be tested in sexual health clinics and builds on similar blood-borne infection testing programs already in place for pregnant women.

The National Health Service (NHS) says that 42% of HIV diagnoses in the UK are at an advanced stage, when the immune system has been severely compromised.

Sam now takes a pill every day and has check-ups every six months.

“The rest of my life is exactly the same as before,” he said.

But not everyone is like that.

Jackie lives in the West Midlands, where HIV prevalence is high, but without being able to opt out of testing, she was diagnosed late.

“No one knew what was wrong with me,” she said.

“I lost all my hair, lost weight, developed thrush in my mouth and kept going to my GP. It wasn’t until a few years later that my breathing got so bad that they admitted me to hospital.”

Doctors still can’t figure out why Jackie’s condition is so serious. Eventually, they decided to get tested for HIV.

She believes there will be opportunities to get tested early on.

Sir Elton, whose AIDS foundation played a key role in pioneering opt-out testing, spoke at a parliamentary event hosted by the All-Party HIV and Aids Group in Parliament.

The event was organized to mark World AIDS Day and the end of Sir Elton’s touring career.

Sam supports further opt-out testing but believes more can be done to make it clear people are being tested.

“I’m glad I’m going through this now,” he said.

“I did feel a little bit ambushed at the time. I felt like maybe some of my rights were taken away. I think it was my choice.

“However, this obviously worked in my favor because I didn’t know that I would say yes or no to this test.”