The Labour MP Danny Beales has warned “NHS silos” are hindering people’s access to the HIV prevention drug PrEP in pharmacies and other parts of primary care.

Beales (pictured) made his remark during a parliamentary debate last week when he also claimed people were waiting on average 12 weeks to get the medicine in response to another Labour MP Lloyd Hatton, who said testing services and public health awareness often feels “particularly remote” in rural and coastal communities.

“It is unacceptable that the drug is not being accessed by everyone who could benefit,” Beales said. “We know from research that people have acquired HIV while waiting to access the drug. That is a significant failure.”

He said he hoped the HIV action plan, which sets out how new infections in England can be reduced by 80 per cent by 2025, will address the 12-week wait “as well as turbocharging access outside sexual health services, the only place where it can currently be accessed.”

“It is entirely wrong that NHS silos are holding back access to PrEP in primary care, including in pharmacy and other settings,” he said.

Beales insisted it was “unacceptable” that people are unable to get a postal test for HIV and sexually transmitted infections in 30 per cent of “rural England.”

“It makes no sense that my borough of Hillingdon, not so rural but on the edge of London, has a completely different postal testing system from the 30 other London boroughs that have their own system,” he said.

“Far too often, the patient is left to navigate complex systems. What test they get will vary depending on where they live. In vast swathes of the country, there is no option to test at home, although sexual health services are often inaccessible and chronically overwhelmed.”

Beales also said people have to “fight for an appointment far too often” and “only those with the sharpest elbows, or persistence, get access to the sexual health services that they need.”

Image: www.parliament.uk