General Practitioners' views and experiences on the barriers and facilitators that men who have sex with men have when accessing primary care for HIV testing and sexual health screening.

Abstract

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately effected by sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Some MSM may not attend for testing and primary care may come in contact with this group. There may be varying barriers for MSM accessing services. Primary care can provide an opportunity to offer testing but with limited GPs views on this topic, it is important to understand the potential barriers and facilitators. A structured online survey was used to gather data and the survey link was emailed to all General Practices in the City of Edinburgh. The total available sample of GPs was 485. The survey used a combination of multiple choice questions and Likert scales rating from 1 to 5. Friedman's two-way analysis of variation rank was used for data analysis. Findings In total, 62 GPs from the City of Edinburgh completed the survey with the majority of the sample having over 10 years' experience in primary care. The most significant barrier was patient preference to access specialist services. The highest rated method to promote HIV and sexual health screening was the use of external promotion.