Opportunities for earlier diagnosis of HIV in general practice

Studies from HIV specialist clinics suggest that undiagnosed HIV-positive patients often present in general practice, where opportunities for diagnosis are missed.1–3 So, what can we learn from analysing general practice records of known HIV-positive patients? We performed a service evaluation in December 2011 of all known HIV-positive patients aged ≥15 registered at four general practices in Tower Hamlets, London (UK), with a combined 25 533 patients aged 15–59. Patients were identified using modified code searches (see online supplementary appendix 1) on the EMIS computer system (Egton Medical Information Systems, UK) as described elsewhere.4 Practice staff used a standardised template to analyse face-to-face general practitioner (GP) consultations in the …