Nurse‐delivered universal point‐of‐care testing for HIV in an open‐access returning traveller clinic

Background Early diagnosis of HIV infection reduces morbidity and mortality associated with late presentation. Despite UK guidelines, the HIV testing rate has not increased. We have introduced universal HIV screening in an open‐access returning traveller clinic. Methods Data were prospectively recorded for all patients attending the open‐access returning traveller clinic between August 2008 and December 2010. HIV testing was offered to all patients from May 2009; initially testing with laboratory samples (phase 1) and subsequently a point‐of‐care test (POCT) (phase 2). Results A total of 4965 patients attended the clinic; 1342 in phase 0, 792 in phase 1 and 2831 in phase 2. Testing rates for HIV increased significantly from 2% (38 of 1342) in phase 0 to 23.1% (183 of 792) in phase 1 and further increased to 44.5% (1261 of 2831) during phase 2 (P