Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the reasons for the delay by NHS England on announcing a public consultation on pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

NHS England does not now consider pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV to be suitable for prioritisation of specialised commissioning spend as it is a preventative measure. However given the potential benefits in this area, NHS England wants to build on the work to date and will be making available up to £2 million over the next two years to run a number of early implementer test sites. These will be undertaken in conjunction with Public Health England and will seek to answer the remaining questions around how PrEP could be commissioned in the most cost effective and integrated way to reduce HIV and sexually transmitted infections in those at highest risk.