PrEP Commissioning

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM moved, and Tom Copley AM seconded, the following motion which was agreed unanimously:

The London Assembly notes the clearly documented effectiveness of the drug PrEP in significantly reducing the risk for people getting HIV. The Assembly notes that it is available on the NHS in England only as part of a trial, as opposed to being routinely available. The Assembly also notes that there are cases of gay and bisexual men in London being diagnosed with HIV while waiting to access the PrEP trial, cases that could have been prevented if the drug had been routinely available. The Assembly notes the high human cost of new infections and the significant financial cost to the NHS of providing lifetime treatment.

The Assembly welcomes the steps taken by NHS England to expand the number of trial places, but believes that everything should be done to ensure a national programme for PrEP is established and is an integral part of the UK’s sexual health services. The Assembly believes that stopping new infections should be the priority.

The Assembly commends the work of the Terrence Higgins Trust, the National AIDs Trust and PrEPster in highlighting the importance of the availability of PrEP and supports their call for routine commissioning to be introduced from April 2020 and for PrEP to be a cornerstone for reaching the 2030 target of no new transmissions of HIV in the UK. The Assembly notes the importance of ensuring a smooth transition from the trial to routine commissioning so that nobody on the trial finds themselves without access to PrEP when the trial ends.   The Assembly also notes the Mayor’s backing of a swift roll-out of PReP across the capital as set out in the London Health Inequalities Strategy, published in September 2018.

The Assembly calls upon the Chair of the Assembly and the Mayor of London to write jointly to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care requesting that routine commissioning is introduced in London and across England from April 2020.