Ahead of World AIDS Day 2024, the Prime Minister pledged to end new HIV cases in England by 2030 and announced a £27 million investment to extend opt-out HIV testing. Today, NHS England have announced that this funding means that not only can 80 hospitals continue opt-out testing beyond March this year, but also that 9 more can join the programme in April. New hospitals set to benefit from funding are those in or near cities and towns with a high HIV prevalence: Norfolk and Norwich Hospital; Watford General Hospital; Bexhill Hospital; East Surrey Hospital; Lister Hospital, Stevenage; Worthing Hospital; Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow; Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital; Darent Valley Hospital, Kent and St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey. 

Opt-out testing has been an incredible success. In its first 18 months, in London, Brighton, Blackpool and Manchester, more than 900 people were newly diagnosed with HIV or found who had been lost to HIV care. A further 3,000 were found with Hepatitis B or C. Across 34 emergency departments over two years, nearly 2 million HIV tests have taken place. In 2019, all emergency departments across England undertook a total of 114,000 HIV tests. 

The programme has been more likely to find people with HIV who live in the most deprived areas and people of Black African ethnicity, a community which bears a disproportionate burden of HIV and late diagnosis. The approach also relieves pressure on the health service. Data from Croydon University Hospital found that when they first started opt-out testing the average hospital stay for a newly diagnosed HIV patient was almost 35 days. Within two years, the average stay was just 2.4 days.

The government is committed to publishing a new HIV Action Plan for England in the summer of 2025. Boosting HIV testing to find the 4,700 people estimated to be living with undiagnosed HIV in England will be crucial to ending new HIV transmissions. Those diagnosed with HIV through opt-out testing can access effective treatment which means they can live a healthy life and can’t pass it on to anyone else. 

Richard Angell, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said: 

“Opt-out HIV testing in A&Es has been game-changing. This expansion of the government’s programme to nine more hospitals means thousands more people across England will benefit from a routine HIV test this year. Not only does this approach find people who wouldn’t otherwise have been tested, it relieves pressure and saves the NHS money while doing so. 
“Scaling up HIV testing is crucial if we are serious about achieving the target of ending new HIV cases by 2030. As the government develops its new HIV Action Plan for England, building on ambitious programmes like this one will be key. Action to improve postal testing services, expand PrEP access and ensure everyone is accessing life-saving treatment is crucial to getting us on track to meet our target.”