Overview
- UKHSA assessed the first 33 months of the emergency‑department programme (April 2022 to January 2025) across 34 sites, recording about seven million tests with roughly 70% uptake.
- The testing identified 3,667 new hepatitis B cases, 831 new hepatitis C cases and 719 new HIV cases.
- An additional 291 people with previously diagnosed HIV who were not in care were reconnected to treatment through the programme.
- The scheme screens for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C when blood is already being taken in A&E unless patients opt out, targeting areas with the highest HIV prevalence.
- Health leaders describe the approach as a gamechanger for access to life‑saving care and a key part of efforts to end new HIV transmissions by 2030.