Sexual Health and Bloodborne Virus Oversight Committee minutes: May 2025

Attendees and apologies

Chair

• Jenni Minto MSP - Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health (Chair)

Attendees

• Alan Eagleson - Terrence Higgins Trust
• Andrew McAuley – Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN) Blood Borne Virus (Non-Sexual Transmission) Group Co-chair

• Becky Metcalfe - SHPN Clinical Leads for Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Co-chair
• Chrisopher Ward - Deputising for Grant Sugden, Waverley Care
• Daniel Clutterbuck - SHPN HIV Clinical Leads / HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Implementation (TEDI) Group Co-chair
• Daniel Kleinberg - Deputy Director, Population Health Resilience and Protection, Scottish Government
• Daniela Brawley - SHPN HIV Clinical Leads Co-chair
• Gill Hawkins – Senior Medical Officer, Scottish Government
• Julie Craik - SHPN Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus (SHBBV) Coordination Network Co-chair
• Lorraine Fleming – Public Health Scotland (PHS)
• Nicky Coia – SHPN Sexual Health Promotion Specialists Co-chair
• Rebekah Carton - SHBBV Team Leader, Population Health Resilience and Protection, Scottish Government
• Sharon Hutchinson - SHPN National Monitoring Assurance and Research Group (NMARG) Co-chair
• Sinead Cook – Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
• Stephen Barclay - SHPN Viral Hepatitis Strategic Group Co-chair
• Yvonne Kerr - SHPN Sexual Health Promotion Specialists Group Co-chair

Apologies

• Anna Glasier – Women’s Health Champion, Scottish Government
• Ciara Cunningham – SHPN Clinical Leads for SRH Co-chair
• Kirstin Mitchell - SHPN NMARG Co-chair
• Kirsty Roy – PHS
• Grant Sugden – SHPN SHBBV Coordination Network Co-chair Waverley Care
• Duncan Mccormick – PHS / SHPN Viral Hepatitis Strategic Group Co-chair
• Nicola Steedman – Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government

Observers

• Janet Barter - Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health

Secretariat

• SHBBV Policy Team, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome, introductions and apologies

The Minister welcomed attendees to the third meeting of the Committee. Due to time constraints, members were invited to introduce themselves when speaking. 

Apologies were noted as above. Rebekah Carton advised that the actions from the previous meeting had been completed and were now closed. 

The group were content with the minutes from the previous meeting, which will be published on gov.scot.

Key issues from workstreams

Sexual Wellbeing Update

The Minister noted that unfortunately the speaker for this item had needed to send apologies at short notice. Secretariat agreed to request a written update on this work to share with the Committee. 

Action:

• Secretariat to request and circulate a written update on sexual wellbeing work. 

HIV Transmission Elimination Update 

Dan Clutterbuck provided an update on actions contained within the HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan and noted that a mid-plan report will be published this summer by PHS on behalf of the HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan Implementation Group. Progress was noted across a range of actions, including research, workforce education, (e)PrEP and testing. Key gaps and risks to progress associated with changes to USAID and PEPFAR funding were also discussed. 

The Minister reflected on the value and quality of collaboration in this area - including the NHS, Public Health Scotland, third sector partners and academia – and noted that the recent Programme for Government commitment to rolling out Emergency Department opt-out testing for blood borne viruses had been welcomed by stakeholders. 

Deep Dive into Hepatiis C Elimination & Next Steps

Andrew McAuley, Sharon Hutchinson and Stephen Barclay provided an overview of progress on hepatitis C (HCV) elimination, emerging evidence and key issues. It was noted that elimination is based on multiple indicators but evidence is not yet available for all of these. Data will become available at different times through various sources, however current indications suggest that Scotland is on track to achieve elimination ahead of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2030 goal. Sharon Hutchinson outlined the WHO validation process for HCV elimination but advised that Scotland will need to apply for this in conjunction with other UK nations. The Minister noted the need to ensure that systems to deliver and monitor progress are maintained, including the world-leading Needle Exchange Survey Initiative.

The group discussed the importance of setting targets for HCV treatment, but acknowledged the challenges many Boards have faced in trying to achieve these. The overall level and focus of targets was discussed, including whether setting additional targets for testing in key settings (prisons and drug services) could support the scale-up in case finding required to achieve and maintain elimination. The Minister agreed to raise the issue of testing in prisons at a forthcoming Ministerial group on prison healthcare, and invited Stephen Barclay to submit a proposal on behalf of the SHPN Viral Hepatitis Strategic Leads Group on how HCV targets for 2025/26 should be formulated.

Actions:

• Minister to raise issues around BBV testing at Ministerial group on prisons. 
• Stephen Barclay to provide advice from the SHPN Viral Hepatitis Group on HCV targets for 2025/26. 

Any Other Business (AOB)

No AOB raised.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on 12 November 2025.