Councils have hit out at the 'wholly inadequate' announcement by NHS England that it will be left to local authorities to fund a new HIV treatment.
Yesterday, NHS England said it would not be funding Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), but would provide up to £2m over the next two years to run a number of early implementer test sites.
However, the Local Government Association said NHS England had retained the commissioning of HIV therapeutics, so expecting councils to fund PrEP treatment was a 'new and unfunded burden' on local authorities.
The LGA's community wellbeing spokeswoman, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, said: 'This is a missed opportunity to launch a ground-breaking prevention method that could halt the spread of HIV, potentially save lives, and make a significant breakthrough in reducing the risk of HIV infection. Councils have invested millions in providing sexual health services since taking over responsibility for public health three years ago, and this treatment could help reduce levels of HIV in the community.
'It is also not right that councils should be made to foot the bill. In stating that local authorities are responsible for commissioning HIV prevention, NHS England adopts what is, in our view, a wholly inadequate position.’
PrEP is a new way of using anti-retroviral drugs to stop those at very highest risk from contracting the virus.
