A service evaluation comparing home-based testing to clinic-based testing for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B in Birmingham and Solihull.
Banerjee, Prita Madhwapathi, Vidya Thorley, Nicola Radcliffe, Keith
Banerjee, Prita
Madhwapathi, Vidya
Thorley, Nicola
Radcliffe, Keith
Abstract
The sexual health services in the Birmingham and Solihull area of the United Kingdom, called Umbrella, has been offering home-based testing for sexually transmitted infections to patients since August 2015. The aim of this service evaluation was to evaluate the uptake, return rate and new diagnosis rates of home-based testing in comparison with clinic-based testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), syphilis (STS) and hepatitis B. Home-based testing, although popular, had low uptake amongst high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM), compared to the clinic-based group (1% versus 11%, p < 0.001). This resulted in low positivity rates for HIV (0.02%) and STS (0.17%) and no new cases of hepatitis B in the home-based group. Therefore, our results show that home-based testing is not a cost-effective method of testing for HIV and likely this is also the case for hepatitis B and STS. Our recommendation would be to encourage uptake of home-based testing in high-risk groups such as MSM and Black Africans to improve the diagnosis rates of HIV, STS and hepatitis B. Alternatively, the continuation of home-based blood testing in the Birmingham and Solihull area will need to be reviewed by Umbrella as a cost-saving strategy for the service in the future.
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Date
2020-05-04
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Banerjee P, Madhwapathi V, Thorley N, Radcliffe K. A service evaluation comparing home-based testing to clinic-based testing for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B in Birmingham and Solihull. Int J STD AIDS. 2020 Jun;31(7):613-618. doi: 10.1177/0956462419900461. Epub 2020 May 4