New BASHH report on PrEP access and uptake in the UK
16 September 2025. Related: Early access, HIV prevention and transmission, On the web.
Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
On 15 September 2025, BASHH published a 16-page online report summarising experiences of almost 70 level-3 sexual health clinics across the UK that responded to a survey earlier this year.
Key points include:
- Only 1% of PrEP users are cisgender women and 2% identify as transgender.
- Only 40% of services are able to offer appointments to initiate or continue PrEP within the recommended 48-hour target.
- Nurses were able to initiate PrEP in 77% of services and Health Advisers able to initiate in 31% of services.
- 16% of services were not linked to an acute NHS trust or HIV service provider.
- 10% did not have access to a local MDT for complex cases.
- 58% of services offer a virtual PrEP option for follow-up.
The report expands on barriers to PrEP in current services and innovative approaches to overcome them.
This includes de-medicalising PrEP, easy transition from PEP to PrEP, more equitable access to second-line PrEP and the importance of campaigns to increase awareness of PrEP.
comment
The results support the call for broader and easier access to PrEP, which was a key recommendation in the recent excellent BASHH/BHIVA 2025 guidelines. [2]
References
- BASHH. Mapping the Provision of HIV Pre Exposure Prophylaxis in the UK. 15 September 2025.
https://www.bashh.org/news/1694/new_report_mapping_the_provision_of_hiv_pre_exposure_prophylaxis_in_the_uk (webpage)
https://www.bashh.org/_userfiles/pages/files/prep_in_the_uk_report_150928.pdf (PDF) - BASHH/BHIVA. Guideline on the Use of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (2025)
https://www.bashh.org/resources/5/hiv_preexposure_prophylaxis_2018 (stet)
https://www.bashh.org/_userfiles/pages/files/prep_2025.pdf (PDF) - i-Base and others. UK Guide to PrEP. (August 2025).
https://i-base.info/guides/prep