Midlands charity welcomes new national HIV action plan

Midlands-based charity, Saving Lives, welcomes a new national HIV Action Plan announced by the government today (1^st December) on World AIDS Day. The charity, which works to reduce the stigma surrounding testing for the blood-borne viruses [BBVs] known as HIV and Hepatitis, as well as other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) calls the plan “an extremely positive signal of society’s shared commitment to ending new HIV transmissions by 2030.”

Staff Nurse Laura Hyslop, Patient Diana Pell, Dr Victoria Siddons, Emergency Department consultant, Dr Steve Taylor, Lead HIV consultant and Clinical Director for the Birmingham Fast Track Cities

The new Action Plan prioritises tackling stigma, powering testing and ensuring that those diagnosed can access today’s life-saving treatments. £170m has been allocated to deliver the plan which includes commitments to a further three years of funding for the transformative opt-out testing for HIV in Emergency Departments. Allocation of further funding has also gone to a national programme to re-engage people who have previously tested positive to ensure they get life-saving HIV care and treatment.

Dan Hartland, Chief Executive of Saving Lives, said: "Today, people living with HIV who are on treatment can enjoy a normal life expectancy, live full lives and will not pass on the virus to their partners.

“Testing remains the only way to know your status and access this transformational therapy - we should all be taking a test. Today’s announcement offers a route to ensuring we can.”

In Birmingham and the West Midlands, Saving Lives has been working alongside NHS Trusts in promoting and advocating for Emergency Department opt-out testing in recent years, and has been commissioned in both Birmingham and the Black Country to deliver peer support in the region as part of these efforts.

102 people in the Midlands have been diagnosed with HIV, and 716 with Hepatitis B and C, since A&E departments started routinely testing blood for the viruses as part of the opt-out programme. This form of testing picks up infections earlier, when treatment is most effective.

The testing programme was rolled out across high and very-high prevalence areas in England, and already takes place in hospitals in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Coventry, Burton upon Trent, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. The new Action Plan guarantees the initial two-year funding for a further three years.

Saving Lives’ Medical Director, Dr Steve Taylor, has responded to the plans and their associated goals: "Opt-out ED testing has been a fantastic program. We have found so many people who would never have been diagnosed if we had not been doing this. We are quite literally ‘Saving Lives, One Blood Test at a Time.’

"We need to continue to increase and normalise testing for HIV and other blood-borne viruses, like Hepatitis B and C. I'd love to see us expand opt-out testing into other settings, including primary care."