Influencing Factors for the Acceptability of Accessing HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis via Community Pharmacies in Wales

HIV prevention methods, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), have been a significant contributing factor to a global decline in HIV transmission. PrEP has been available through the NHS in Wales since 2017. However, access is exclusively via sexual health clinics, and those accessing PrEP do not reflect those being diagnosed with HIV. Widening access beyond sexual health clinics may be one approach to encourage more equitable uptake, and there is growing interest in offering PrEP services in community pharmacies. We, therefore, aimed to explore the acceptability of PrEP services being delivered through community pharmacies among prospective service users.

We conducted a qualitative interview study of people living in Wales who either (i) currently access, (ii) previously accessed or are (iii) considering accessing PrEP via a sexual health clinic. Participants were recruited via community networks, and interviews were conducted virtually. Our topic guide was informed by Levesque's conceptual framework of access to healthcare, and we used reflexive thematic analysis.

We interviewed 24 participants and included data from 20 in the analysis. Four themes were generated: experiences of accessing PrEP via sexual health clinics, the prospect of PrEP access via community pharmacies, other community settings in which PrEP may be accessed and concerns around integrated healthcare and healthcare data.

PrEP access via community pharmacy is likely to be an acceptable option for people. There are uncertainties surrounding what a PrEP service would look like in a community pharmacy setting, and this would need clarifying to prospective users to increase the salience of access.

A team-based approach was taken for developing the topic guide and agreeing on the codes for this study. This included people with lived experience of accessing PrEP in Wales.