Following last week’s announcement that commissioners in London have refused to double places on the PrEP trial, a number of MPs and peers have written to the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, calling on him to intervene and take urgent action.

Text of the letter

Dear Secretary of State,

 

We are writing to you as MPs and peers who have championed the need for access to PrEP – as an essential tool to meet our national commitment to end new HIV transmissions.

 

We are disappointed and concerned about the news that London clinics will not be receiving double the number of places on the PrEP Trial.

 

We very much welcomed your commitment, made at the AIDS Impact conference, that you will double the number of places on the PrEP Impact Trial, especially since many constituencies across the country and 47% of Trial sites across London are already closed to men who have sex with men and turning away individuals who are at high risk of HIV.

 

However, staggeringly, commissioners in London have decided not to accept these extra places. This comes a year after London signed up to be an HIV Fast Track City and after Steve Brine confirmed in response to a recent Parliamentary Question that most Trial sites would be full to men who have sex with men by March, which has already begun.

  

With every delay, more and more people are being diagnosed with HIV, which could have been avoided had they had access to PrEP.

 

We continue to call on you to find a sustainable solution to make sure that PrEP is available to all who need it. In the meantime, we are calling on you to intervene and take urgent action to ensure that your commitment to providing an additional 13,000 PrEP trial places are put in the hands of those who need it, including in London, as a matter of urgency.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Baroness Liz Barker

Lord Guy Black

Ben Bradshaw MP

Lord Michael Cashman CBE

Lord Ray Collins of Highbury

Neil Coyle MP

Stephen Doughty MP

Sharon Hodgson MP

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath PC OBE

Caroline Lucas MP

Lloyd Russell Moyle MP

Lord Brian Paddick

Gareth Thomas MP

Catherine West MP

Will Wragg MP