First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed Scotland will make its own decision on pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, after NHS England extended trials for two years. The leader of the SNP said she was “keen” for Scotland to go its own way on PrEP and said it wouldn’t necessarily be the case Scotland follow recommendations made in England.

Fears about PrEP in Scotland arose, when it was reported that the Scottish Government was to accept the findings of health chiefs south of the border. When asked if she could see Scotland differing from NHS England’s decision and rolling out PrEP, Ms Sturgeon added: “Absolutely. It’s not necessarily the case that we would follow that [sic: two years further testing] in Scotland. I think we will take our own decisions.”

Last month, NHS England kicked the roll out of PrEP into the long grass, stating that it had to show it was cost effective.