HIV

Scope

This Lead and Inform Clinical Reference Group (CRG) covers human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) services. HIV is a virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. An estimated 97,740 people were living with HIV in the UK at the end of 2020, of whom almost 4,660 (approx. 4.8%) were unaware of their infection.

Membership

  • Dr Laura Waters, National Specialty Advisor (Chair)
  • Dr Ashley Price, Clinical Member
  • Heather Leake-Date, Clinical Member
  • Dr Iain Stephenson, Clinical Member
  • Angeline Walker, Public Health England
  • Odelia Eke, Pharmacy Lead
  • Anna Kafkalias, Lead Commissioner
  • Additional members TBC

Spotlight on HIV

The treatment of HIV infection has been one of the most outstanding medical achievements over the last 25 years. The Spotlight on HIV highlights the of achievements and key milestones in HIV care in the NHS over the past 40 years.

Products

A key part of the CRG’s work is the delivery of the ‘products’ of commissioning. These are the tools used by commissioners to contract services on an annual basis.

Best practice in HIV prescribing and ,ultidisciplinary teams

Best Practice in HIV Prescribing sets out the Clinical Reference Group’s principles for providing clinical advice to NHS England on HIV prescribing, including the role, composition and operation of multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings.

Service specifications

Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. The specifications have been developed by specialised clinicians, commissioners, expert patients and public health representatives to describe both core and developmental service standards. Core standards are those that all funded providers should be able to demonstrate, with developmental standards being those which may require further changes in practice over time to provide excellence in the field.

The following service specifications fall within the scope of this CRG:

Policies

A commissioning policy is a document that defines access to a service for a particular group of patients. A NICE Technology Appraisal Guideline on the same topic will replace, or be incorporated into, a commissioning policy as appropriate. These are important documents that are developed to ensure consistency in access to treatments nationwide.

The following policies fall within the scope of this CRG:

PrEP trial updates

Between 2017 and 2020 NHS England and NHS Improvement funded a major extension to the national HIV prevention programme led by Public Health England with the aim of supporting those most at risk and reducing the incidence of HIV infection. The first phase of implementation was the launch of a large scale trial of anti-retroviral drugs for the prevention of HIV, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

The PrEP Programme Oversight Board provided governance to make sure the PrEP trial was as good as it could be and that it progressed as planned. Updates from the Board meetings can be found here.

Please note that the recruitment to the trial has now ended and a routinely commissioned PrEP service is now being rolled out across England.

Other documents

Get involved

If you are interested in the work of the HIV CRG or its NPoC, you can register as a stakeholder.

For details on our latest consultations please visit the NHS England consultation hub.

Get in contact

For any questions or queries relating to the work of the HIV CRG or its NPoC, please contact: england.npoc-bloodandinfection@nhs.net