{"id":1335,"date":"2023-11-29T11:48:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T11:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/sir-elton-john-to-address-mps-after-hiv-testing-trials-success\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T11:48:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T11:48:14","slug":"sir-elton-john-to-address-mps-after-hiv-testing-trials-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/sir-elton-john-to-address-mps-after-hiv-testing-trials-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Elton John to address MPs after HIV testing trials success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Elton John to address MPs after HIV testing trials success<\/p>\n

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\"Sir<\/picture><\/span>PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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By Jack Fenwick & Adam Smith<\/div>\n
BBC Politics<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sir Elton John is heading to Parliament to urge ministers to do more to hit a 2030 target of eliminating new HIV cases in England, the BBC has learned.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The rock legend will address MPs at a meeting on Wednesday evening. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It comes as more than 580 previously undiagnosed cases have been identified by a pioneering new testing scheme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Under the scheme, anyone having a blood test in selected hospital A&E units has also been tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, unless they opted out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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According to NHS figures seen by the BBC, the “opt-out testing” pilot project has identified more than 3,500 cases of the three bloodborne infections since April 2022, including more than 580 HIV cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The trials have been taking place in 33 hospitals in London, Greater Manchester, Sussex and Blackpool, where prevalence is classed by the NHS as “very high”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sam, whose real name is not being used, lives in Greater Manchester and is in his 40s.<\/b> Last year, he had a blood test after going to A&E following an accident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  • ‘HIV home tests can help remove stigma’<\/li>\n
  • PrEP: The small pill helping end HIV transmission<\/li>\n
  • HIV stigma campaign 40 years after tombstone ads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    “I got a phone call two days after being in A&E,” he says, “just saying to me we’ve got some concerns about a blood test that was done at the time. They asked me to come in and do some further tests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    “I hadn’t realised about the opt-out testing at the time, so I wasn’t expecting a phone call from a health clinic. I thought it was about a survey or something about my experience in A&E.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    After a two-week wait, Sam was diagnosed with HIV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    This video can not be played<\/p>\n

    To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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    “It felt like this was happening to somebody else. I wasn’t expecting it. My family don’t know, and I don’t want to cause them any distress. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    “And I feel maybe their lack of knowledge about the HIV virus and the 80s and how things were then, it makes me a lot more reluctant to tell them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    The opt-out trials, which cost \u00a320m, were designed to identify cases in people unlikely to get tested at a sexual health clinic and are based on similar bloodborne infection testing programmes already in place for pregnant women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    The NHS says 42% of HIV diagnoses in the UK are made late, when the immune system has already been significantly damaged. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    NHS England, which has been leading the pilots, says opt-out testing is more likely to lead to an early diagnosis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Sources in Westminster say they believe this will save the NHS money in the long term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Sam now takes one tablet a day and goes for a check-up every six months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    “The rest of my life is completely as it was before,” he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    But that’s not the case for everyone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Jackie, who lives in the West Midlands where HIV prevalence is high but opt-out testing is not available, was given a late diagnosis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    “Nobody had got a clue what was wrong with me,” she says, <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    “Losing my hair, losing weight, thrush in my mouth and I kept going back to the GP. And it wasn’t until my breathing got so bad, which was a few years down the line, they put me in hospital.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Doctors still couldn’t figure out what was making Jackie so ill. Then eventually, they decided to carry out an HIV test.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    She believes there were opportunities much earlier on when she could have been given a test.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    What is HIV?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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