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Improving HIV testing in outpatients
Diagnosing the 17% (PHE 2014) of individuals who are unaware of their HIV status remains one of the biggest challenges to sexual health. Lascar et al1 describe an innovative quality improvement project that we can learn much from. Based in a high prevalence area, they implemented opt-out HIV testing via a routine blood test and then implemented a rapid walk-in HIV testing service in the outpatient (OP) department for patients and the general public. The team had previously assessed missed opportunities for HIV testing and identified a high number (77%) of late diagnoses and intensive care admissions, and they had also identified OP as the most common setting for missed opportunities for testing and diagnosis. The number of OPs referred for an HIV test rose from 420 (in 2010) to 676 (in 2013) in the same 9-month period and 148 accessed rapid HIV testing, 127 were attending OPs and 21 were members of the general public. Two new HIV diagnoses were made and one …
Footnotes
Contributors SH chose the papers and wrote the manuscript. LH supported the writing.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.