DH Guidance - Health clearance for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV: New healthcare workers

Intro
This guidance recommends that all new healthcare workers have checks for tuberculosis disease/immunity and are offered hepatitis B immunisation, with post-immunisation testing of response and the offer of tests for hepatitis C and HIV. These standard health clearance checks should be completed on appointment. For new healthcare workers who will perform exposure-prone procedures (EPPs), additional health clearance should also be undertaken. Additional health clearance means being non-infectious for HIV (antibody negative), hepatitis B (surface antigen negative or, if positive, e-antigen negative with a viral load of 103 genome equivalents/ml or less) and hepatitis C (antibody negative or, if positive, negative for hepatitis C RNA). These checks should be completed before confirmation of an appointment to an EPP post, as the healthcare worker will be ineligible if found to be infectious.

Copy of Guidance

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