Long term effect of primary health care training on HIV testing: A quasi-experimental evaluation of the Sexual Health in Practice (SHIP) intervention.

SHIP training produces a significant and sustained increase in HIV testing for each GP trained. Compared with general population screening, HIV tests used in routine clinical care have a high probability of detecting a positive person. Unlike an RCT, this evaluation is a 'real life' measure of the effect that commissioners of SHIP could expect in comparable areas of the UK. The effectiveness of the SHIP training may be related to the programme components not included in interventions that did not demonstrate an effect, such as peer-led teaching, and use of approaches to communication and rapid risk assessment tailored to the setting.