Introduction
Despite excellent HIV outcomes in the UK, a proportion of people with HIV disengage from clinical care. There is an increasing emphasis on re-engaging this group, both to avoid harms to the individual and to support progress towards national targets for viral suppression and HIV elimination.
Disengagement is associated with suboptimal adherence and detectable viral loads, and hence the potential risk of onward HIV transmission. The HIV Action Plan 2025-2030 aims to improve engagement in care for people diagnosed with HIV, and will invest in the first ever national retention and re-engagement initiative. As more HIV services start to carry out systematic re-engagement work and to support the forthcoming national retention and re-engagement programme, the aim of this rapid guidance is to outline basic clinical standards, work towards standardised definitions and outline basic methods to start re-engaging people who are out of HIV care.
This guidance was released in March 2026 and will be reviewed in March 2027.
Comments and feedback are welcomed – please use the form on the main Rapid Guidance page.
Downloads
