Testing for HIV could be introduced routinely in GPs’ surgeries and hospitals under government plans to screen the population for the condition.
Ministers are concerned that more than a quarter of people with HIV do not know they are carrying the virus and are passing it on to their sexual partners.
A pilot screening programme, which is expected to be extended across the country if it is a success, will target gay men and black Africans who have a higher than average chance of carrying HIV.
The pilot, to be held at GPs’ surgeries and hospitals in Leicester, in Brighton, where there is a large gay population, and in Lewisham, southeast London, which has a large black African community, will begin in the next few weeks.
London Despatch 