Sir, long into retirement I had not realised that the UK Advisory Panel (UKAP) attitude to HIV infected Health Care Workers (HCWs) had not changed since the dark ages of 1990.1 Whether or not to be tested for HIV was an issue for some HCWs in the late 1980s and early 1990s in view of the consequences of a positive result. Experience with medical, dental and nursing colleagues led me to believe that some colleagues would avoid a test.

As a result of my being at the forefront in the provision of care for people with HIV I had had the opportunity to gather opinions from a wide range of informed members of the healthcare professions in the UK and abroad. Review at that time of the literature regarding percutaneous injury, universal infection control procedures etc supported the opinion that the risk of transmission of HIV from a HCW was extremely unlikely, especially when working in a superficial body cavity such as the mouth.

In 1996 the BMJ invited me to contribute an editorial on 'The rights of HIV infected healthcare workers'.2 In this I wrote 'A policy which supports healthcare workers is more likely to be effective than one which excludes and punishes them. Any policy that could reduce the number of healthcare workers wishing to be tested will result in a pool of undiagnosed and unsupported healthcare workers.' The concluding sentences were 'The health professions need to use current knowledge to support those who become infected. In allaying public fears, the rights of healthcare workers have been subsumed for too long.'

When this was published there was hope that attitudes within the professions and the UKAP (already in existence) might be influenced to remove this discrimination against HCWs. Ten years later evidence of the safety of dental procedures has continued to accumulate without any change in the policy of UKAP. It would be interesting to have a response from the UKAP as to why there has been no change in this policy.