Each year, around 400,000 people born before 1996 – around half of new sign-ups online – will now be asked if they received a historic blood transfusion, those who did will be offered a test for Hepatitis C.

Patients will be able to order discreet, self-testing Hepatitis C kits to complete at home, which involve a finger-prick blood sample that is then posted to a lab for analysis – or they can also access testing at GP surgeries, sexual health clinics and other services.

The new questions, which will be introduced in the online GP registration service from 16 June, follow a recommendation by Sir Brian Langstaff in the Infected Blood Inquiry report, published in May 2024.

NHS England has issued new guidance to GPs on introducing the questions, capturing responses and supporting patients where a blood transfusion and infection risk is indicated.

Only newly registered patients born on or before 31 December 1995 will be asked if they have had a blood transfusion. The new questions remind patients of likely reasons they may have had a blood transfusion, including after an accident, complication during childbirth, surgery, or other medical treatment.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: ‘The NHS is dedicated to implementing the inquiry's recommendations and this simple change to the GP registration process for patients is a vital step forward in ensuring that nobody affected by contaminated blood is living undiagnosed and unsupported.

‘By routinely checking their risk when anyone signs up to a new GP and offering fast Hep C tests where necessary, we will ensure any undiagnosed cases can be found and treated as quickly as possible, while enabling thousands more to receive the reassurance of a negative test.'

Health minister, Ashley Dalton, said: ‘The Infected Blood Scandal is one of the gravest injustices this country has ever seen. The government has been clear nothing of this nature can ever happen again, and we must take tangible action.'

Anyone over the age of 18 living in England can order a free home test for hepatitis C from hepctest.nhs.uk.