Abandoning PrEP on the NHS ‘is deeply concerning and totally short-sighted’

published on March 20, 2016 by Josh Withey, in Gay Times

Yesterday we heard that the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis drug Truvada, which can be taken to help prevent the transmission of HIV, is not going to be made available on the NHS.

The choice to abandon a public consultation into getting the drug on the National Health Service has been described as “a shocking U-turn” by the National AIDS Trust, and the pledge of £2 million over two years for 500 ‘at risk’ gay men was labelled a “tokenistic nod” by the Terrence Higgins trust.

Speaking in the House of Commons today, Catherine West MP asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Jane Ellison MP, whether there was anything she could do “to put an end to this erratic and inconsistent decision making?”

“And does she agree with me that yesterday’s decision to abandon the role out of the game changing drug, totally fails those at risk of contracting HIV?”

Jane Ellison MP, responded by saying: “The senior specialised commissioning managing team at NHS England did make that decision, and I think that NHS England recognise that the decision could have been taken earlier. However, now there is also recognition that valuable work has taken place, NHS England has already undertaken that valuable work.

“There are some important lessons that have been learnt, and we don’t want to loose that. So now it’s a case of working with NHS England and PHE [Public Health England] to understand how we can take things forward, including learning from the test sites.”

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Abandoning PrEP on the NHS ‘is deeply concerning and totally short-sighted’

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