Acceptance of HIV testing in medical inpatients: a local acceptability study

Late diagnosis remains the most important factor related to death due to HIV in the UK. To reduce late diagnosis, the British HIV Association (BHIVA), the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), and the British Infection Society jointly released national guidelines for HIV testing in the UK in 2008. They recommend local evaluation of HIV testing for all medical admissions aged 15-59 years in areas where the local prevalence is above 2/1000. The local prevalence of HIV in Croydon is 4.17/1000. We carried out a local acceptability study at Mayday Hospital in Croydon and found that 84/101 medical patients agreed to have an HIV test. A previous audit showed that only 9/1047 medical admissions had been tested for HIV. This study shows that HIV testing is acceptable and that more patients could be tested.