UK Advisory Panel for Healthcare Workers Living with Bloodborne Viruses (UKAP)

UKAP gives advice about the transmission and management of bloodborne viruses among healthcare workers (HCWs).

Role

UKAP gives advice and guidance on HCWs living with HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. The panel also provides support for local incident management teams.

Terms of reference

The panel’s terms of reference are to:

  • establish, and update as necessary, criteria on which local advice on modifying working practices may be based
  • provide supplementary specialist occupational advice to physicians of HCWs living with bloodborne viruses, occupational physicians and professional bodies
  • advise individual HCWs or their advocates how to obtain guidance on working practices
  • advise directors of public health on patient notification exercises, where these are indicated, of patients treated by HCWs living with bloodborne viruses
  • keep under review the literature on occupational transmission of bloodborne viruses and revise guidelines as necessary

Membership

The Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) appoints members with specialist medical and scientific expertise, as well as lay members. The current list of members on the UKAP panel are as follows:

  • Dr Christopher Conlon (Infectious Diseases expert)
  • Dr Mat Donati (Virology expert)
  • Ms Kay Francis (Midwifery expert)
  • Dr Prosenjit Giri (Occupational Health expert)
  • Dr Ali Hashtroudi (Occupational Health expert)
  • Dr David Hawkins (Deputy Chair and Genitourinary Medicine expert)
  • Dr George Kassianos (General Practice expert)
  • Dr Patrick Kennedy (Clinical Hepatology expert)
  • Ms Helen Kirk (Occupational Health Nursing expert)
  • Dr Vanessa MacGregor (Communicable Disease Control expert)
  • Dr Wendy Matthews (Emergency Medicine expert)
  • Dr Kirsty Roy (Health Protection expert)
  • Dr Richard Smith (Obstetrics and Gynaecology expert)
  • Dr Melanie Wilson (Dental expert)
  • Dr Kay Thomas (Surgical expert)

Observers

  • Dr Naresh Chada (Northern Irish Observer)
  • Ms Emma Stapley (English Observer)
  • Amelia Whorley (English Observer)
  • Stephen Milner (English Observer)
  • Dr Keith Reid (Welsh Observer)
  • Dr Gill Hawkins (Scottish Observer)

Publications

UKAP statement on risk of HTLV-1 transmission from healthcare workers to patients during exposure-prone procedures

BBVs in healthcare workers: health clearance and management

Hepatitis C: risk in healthcare workers pre 2007 clearance review

Exposure prone procedures categorisation documents

Emergency healthcare workers: exposure prone procedures

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) exposure prone procedure categorisation

General dentistry exposure prone procedure categorisation

General surgery exposure prone procedure categorisation

Obstetrics and gynaecology exposure prone procedure categorisation

Urology exposure prone procedure categorisation

Vascular surgery: exposure prone procedure categories

UKAP publications published before 2014, and relevant guidelines on healthcare worker clearance, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, are available from the archived UKAP webpage, courtesy National Archive.

Enquiries and support

Advice from the UKAP secretariat

If you are concerned following the identification of a HCW living with a bloodborne virus, please fill in the UKAP enquiry form. The information in this form will help guide investigations into whether further actions may be needed.

For all other queries, please contact the UKAP secretariat at ukap@ukhsa.gov.uk

If you are sending personal identifiable information (PII) about a UKAP enquiry from another NHS.net email account, please email phe.ukap@nhs.net

UKAP Occupational Health Monitoring Register (UKAP-OHR)

In March 2024, the UKAP secretariat obtained approval from the UKHSA Chief Executive and the Chief Medical Officer for England to decommission the UKAP-OHR. All data for the period to end of 2023 will be obtained, but occupational health teams are no longer required to register HCWs to the UKAP-OHR.

We would like to emphasise the importance of following all other UKAP guidance and occupational health teams maintaining local records of HCWs living with HIV or hepatitis B performing EPPs.