OXFORDSHIRE residents are being urged to get themselves checked as part of National HIV Testing Week.

Oxfordshire Sexual Health Service – which provides free and confidential sexual health advice at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford and at the Orchard Health Centre in Banbury – is promoting the quick and easy free finger-prick HIV test.

As part of the campaign, which runs until Friday, the team will promote regular testing among the most affected population groups, including those from black and ethnic minorities (BME), as well as gay and bisexual men, aiming to reduce the rates of undiagnosed people or those diagnosed late.

A total of 17.6 per cent of staff members at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust identify as BME – about 2,200 people.

There are approximately 100,000 people in the UK living with HIV, and of those one in eight do not know they have HIV.

Sandra Rushwaya, acting lead sexual health adviser at the trust, said: “We know that for most people, barriers to getting tested include the perceived stigma and access to testing. We will be offering a free finger prick test, which takes a sample of blood and gives a result on the immune system’s reaction to HIV within minutes.”

For clinic times visit sexualhealthoxfordshire.nhs.uk