Written Questions on HIV in Hackney

27 Oct 2009
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that future funding for social services provision for HIV positive people takes account of (a) inflation and (b) predicted numbers of people diagnosed with HIV in the future.

Gillian Merron: Following the 2007 comprehensive spending review, the AIDS Support Grant, which provides a contribution towards the social care and support of people with HIV, was increased from £16.5 million, to £19.8 million in 2008-09, £21.8 million in 2009-10 and £25.5 million in 2010-11. Decisions on allocations beyond this period have not yet been made.

The AIDS Support Grant is allocated to individual authorities based on their HIV caseloads, updated annually, with a weighting of 30 per cent. towards women and children affected or infected by HIV. This recognises the increasing pressure of HIV among these groups.

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage general practitioner surgeries in areas with high levels of HIV/AIDS to include an HIV test in their registration health checks; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: As part of the work the Department is undertaking to reduce the level of undiagnosed HIV in the population, and to make HIV testing outside specialist centres more routine, we are funding eight pilot projects (four in London) in a variety of settings to examine the feasibility and acceptability of HIV testing. The settings chosen include general practitioner surgeries, and we will be undertaking an evaluation of the pilots to determine their wider implementation.

This work follows publication of the UK National Guidelines for HIV Testing (2008) by the British HIV Association, British Association of Sexual Health and HIV and the British Infection Society. The work is also supported by the documents, “HIV in Primary Care” (2005), and “HIV for non-HIV specialists”, (2008), both published by the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health. Additionally, in September 2007, the chief medical officer and chief nursing officer wrote to all doctors and nurses, highlighting best practice about offering HIV testing, where appropriate, in all healthcare settings.

The chief medical officer sent a further letter to Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties of Medicine in September 2009, encouraging them to take further action to diagnose HIV outside specialist settings.



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