Thousands of patients with undiagnosed hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or HIV have been identified through a testing programme for bloodborne viruses run in hospital emergency departments.
The programme was launched in April 2022 and now covers 34 emergency departments in areas in England with the highest HIV prevalence.1 Blood tests taken during emergency care are automatically tested for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C unless patients choose to opt out.
A new evaluation report2 commissioned by NHS England shows that over 33 months more than 7 million tests for bloodborne viruses were conducted at the 34 sites, with a …
