Give every new patient an HIV test, GPs are told

HIV tests should be given to everyone who registers with a GP, an NHS- funded study recommends.

A routine blood test for all patients could catch HIV earlier and save lives, according to British researchers.

They want it implemented in 74 high-risk local authority areas, at a cost of £4million, or £25 for each test.

The study, funded by the Department of Health, found routinely screening patients for HIV increases the diagnosis rate four-fold, helping to prevent people passing on the virus which leads to AIDS.

The cost will raise concerns at a time when the NHS is struggling to fund cataract and hip surgery, but researchers say HIV tests could become costeffective within 13 years. Lead author Dr Werner Leber, from Queen Mary University of London, said: ‘We’ve shown that HIV screening in UK primary care is cost effective and potentially cost-saving, contrary to widespread belief.’

Public Health England has backed the proposals.

An estimated 13,300 people in the UK are unaware that they have the HIV virus – around one in eight sufferers.

Two in five people with HIV are diagnosed late, meaning their lives are cut short and treatment is more expensive.

The university study, published in The Lancet, was based on a four-year pilot in the borough of Hackney in London.

Researchers studied 86,000 people in 40 surgeries.

‘Screening is cost effective’