Examining how to improve HIV prevention and testing in GP practices

The UK Government wants to end new HIV infections in England by 2030. GP practices can help achieve this by testing more people for HIV.

People can live for many years without knowing they are HIV positive. They may visit their GP several times with symptoms related to HIV but are not always tested for it. Increasing HIV testing is important because people who don’t know they have HIV might only be diagnosed when they become seriously ill.

GP practices can also help achieve the 2030 deadline by making sure more people at increased risk of HIV have access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP is a medicine that reduces the risk of catching HIV. It is available free from NHS sexual health clinics, but not everyone who needs it is able to access it.

This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research School for Primary Care Research (NIHR SPCR).

Project aims

Our aims are to:

  • Find ways to increase HIV testing in GP practices
  • Widen access to PrEP through GP practices

We will look at existing research and theories, and work closely with GP’s, healthcare commissioners and everyone involved to find the best ways to increase HIV testing and access to PrEP. Working with everyone involved in this way is called a “person-based approach” and has been shown to work well in improving healthcare.

Interviews and workshops with healthcare professionals and patients will help us understand how to increase HIV testing and use of PrEP. The workshops and interviews we organise will take place in areas with low and high numbers of people living with HIV.

What we hope to achieve

We will find the best way to increase HIV testing and PrEP use and plan to test our methods later in a pilot study.

Lead collaborators

ARC West Staff

Jeremy Horwood

Professor Jeremy Horwood

Professor of Social Sciences and Health
Anne Scott

Dr Anne Scott

Senior Research Associate

Partners on this project

Bath and North East Somerset Council

Bath and North East Somerset Council makes all kinds of decisions, from planning and transport, to housing and social care, that impact on residents' physical and mental health. It works with communities to improve their health and wellbeing and to make planning decisions that impact communities' health in a positive way.

Bristol City Council

The council plays a vital role in the health community as public health is part of its remit. Its role is to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population of Bristol. Its activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and it focuses on the population as a whole, not on individual patients or diseases.

Gloucestershire County Council

Gloucestershire County Council is responsible for improving and protecting the health and wellbeing of the local community. A key focus of public health in Gloucestershire is reducing inequalities in health between different groups of people and communities.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust is a dynamic group of hospitals in the heart of Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare, with over 100 clinical services across ten sites. They offer care to the people of Bristol, Weston-Super-Mare and the South West, and have an international reputation for cardiac surgery, paediatric services, oncology and bone marrow transplantation. They are the largest centre for medical training and research in the South West.

University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is internationally renowned and one of the very best in the UK, due to its outstanding teaching and research, its superb facilities and highly talented students and staff. Its students thrive in a rich academic environment which is informed by world-leading research. It hosts the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research.