United Kingdom: Patients May Not Be Told of HIV Workers

The Department of Health issued new guidance for England last month essentially taking away the right of patients to know the HIV status of health care workers. Until now, all patients in England have been notified, regardless of their level of risk, when a health care worker is found to be infected with HIV.

The new guidelines come from the Expert Advisory Group on AIDS and the UK Advisory Panel on Health Care Workers Infected with Blood Borne Viruses and are more in line with the policies of the rest of the world. Whether a patient is informed will depend on the level of risk of exposure and, under the new guidance, all patients who are notified will be offered pre-test discussion and an HIV antibody test.

There has never been a detected case of transmission of HIV from an infected health worker in the United Kingdom. The Department of Health has carried out 22 studies on the issue involving thousands of patients. There have only been two reported incidents of HIV infection from health care workers worldwide.

Lisa Power, head of policy at Terrence Higgins Trust, welcomed the change. "We endorse the approach taken in this new policy from the Department of Health. We hope it will ensure that health care workers are treated fairly and without prejudice, and that patients are given full support whilst not being unnecessarily alarmed by needless notification exercises. There is still patient notification when needed, but the assessment will avoid needless panic and scare-mongering, and protect all parties involved," she said.

John Godwin, head of Policy and Advocacy for the National AIDS Trust said, "Approaching the issue on a case-by-case basis is likely to minimize unnecessary distress and also enables the limited funds available for health care to be used to improve services. We know a lot more about HIV transmission risks in occupational settings now than we did even five years ago, and the new guidelines allow practice to reflect this."

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