HIV testing in secondary care: a multicentre longitudinal mixed methods electronic survey of non-HIV specialist hospital physicians in South-East Scotland and Northern England.

BACKGROUND Increasing the uptake of HIV testing in people who may have undiagnosed HIV is essential to reduce the morbidity associated with late HIV diagnosis. METHODS We conducted a multicentre, longitudinal, mixed-methods study, surveying the attitudes, knowledge and practice of non-HIV specialist hospital physicians in South-East Scotland and North-East England with respect to HIV testing. RESULTS We found that although awareness of indications for HIV testing had improved over time, only 13% of clinicians recognised all of the surveyed HIV indicator conditions. Physicians were better at recognising the indicator conditions relevant to their specialty. The perception of working with a low-risk patient population was the most frequently cited barrier to offering an HIV test. Only a third of study respondents had requested more than 10 HIV tests in the preceding year. CONCLUSIONS Our study supports a need for targeted and sustained educational initiatives to increase rates of HIV testing in secondary care.