HC Deb 07 July 1997 vol 297 c307W
Dr. Harris

To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what circumstances HIV tests may be carried out on health professionals without their explicit and informed consent. [6593]

Mr. Milburn

HIV tests should not be carried out on health professionals without their explicit and informed consent. In very rare and exceptional circumstances where there is a serious public health risk, a magistrate may, on the application of the local authority supported by a certificate from the local authority's medical adviser, order that a person believed to have suffered or to be suffering from a specified disease, including AIDS, or carrying an organism capable of causing the disease, be medically examined and tested.