Reports & Publications

Underpinning the ambitions of Fast Track Cardiff & Vale is the focus on engaging and empowering communities, and collecting and understanding data to drive innovation and improvements in services. Fast Track Cardiff aims to map all existing data and make sure it is put to use in the most effective way. We also direct the collection of new data and develop our understanding of attitudes and issues relating to data capture across organisations.

Our most recent reports and resources are free and available to download.

Peer Support for People Living with HIV in Wales: Scoping and Feasibility

You can read and download the paper here.

The report explores factors impacting the development of Peer Support for PLWH in Wales.

Authors: Sue Channon, Adam DN Williams, Carlos EA Alvarado, & David Gillespie.

Texting 4 Testing 2022/23: report

Impact and experiences of offering HIV testing across a whole city population through primary care clusters and GP surgeries in the Texting 4 Testing (T4T) project

Authors: Lisa Power; David Gillespie; Darren Cousins; Zsanett Lukács; Alessandro Ceccarelli; Zoë Couzens; Lucy Wynne.

Campaigning for HIV prevention in Wales: a community-led approach to widen access and uptake of HIV testing

We present an evaluation of the impact of a volunteer-produced and community-led strategy to promote HIV testing as part of Wales HIV Testing Week 2022 – with minimal funding and much goodwill.

Authors: Dr Alessandro Ceccarelli; Ms Lisa Power; Mr Adam D N Williams; Mrs Zoe Couzens; Dr David Gillespien; Dr Jonathan Underwood; Dr Darren Cousins.

Networking for HIV/AIDS prevention: impact of social media promotion on widening access and uptake of HIV testing

You can read and download the paper here.

Authors: Dr Alessandro Ceccarelli; Ms Lisa Power; Mrs Zoe Couzens; Dr Jonathan Underwood; Dr Darren Cousins

Stigma related to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among men who have sex with men in Wales: a mixed-methods study

You can read and download the paper here.

Authors: David Gillespie, Adam Williams, Fiona Wood, Zoë Couzens, Adam Jones, Richard Ma, Marijn de Bruin, Dyfrig Hughes, Kerenza Hood

An evaluation of the GP-facilitated HIV home testing pilot in the Cardiff City & South GP cluster

Widening access to HIV testing is an effective approach to meet the goal of zero new HIV transmissions by 2030. This pilot aimed to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of GP-facilitated HIV home testing, in collaboration with Cardiff City & South GP cluster. Read the report here.

PrEP Use, Sexual Behaviour, and PrEP Adherence Among Men who have Sex with Men Living in Wales Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this study, 60 PrEP users were recruited from four sexual health clinics across Wales and followed over a 9 month period. Their PrEP use and sexual behaviour data were collected on a daily basis and these were analysed to estimate how people across Wales were taking PrEP. The study occurred around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic so also looked at whether pandemic-restrictions were associated with changes in how PrEP was used.

Experiences of men who have sex with men when initiating, implementing and persisting with HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis

In this study, 21 PrEP users across Wales were interviewed about their experiences of taking PrEP in order to understand why and how people take PrEP and what support may be useful for PrEP users.

Peer Support for People Living with HIV in Wales: Scoping and Feasibility

Utilise the experiences and views of service users and providers, alongside the research evidence, to identify factors impacting the development of Peer Support for PLWH in Wales.

Public Perceptions of Sexual Health Services in Wales

You can read the full report published in November 2021 here.

This report by Adam Williams sets out the findings from the survey exploring the public opinions of the current name Frisky Wales and future sexual health services that could be provided within Wales.

All Wales Postal Testing Evaluation

The All Wales Postal Testing Evaluation was commissioned by Public Health Wales and undertaken by Adam Williams from Cardiff University. 

The report evaluates the Postal Testing Service (Frisky Wales) developed in response to clinic closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read the full report here.

Bringing Fast Track Cities to Cardiff & Vale and to Wales

You can read the full report published in November 2019 here.

This report examines three key questions: how many people access care for their HIV; the issues of late diagnosis of HIV infection in this region; and what we know about HIV-related stigma in Wales.


FTC Research Strategy 2021-25

The overall aim of our Research & Evaluation Strategy is to contribute to the creation of a learning system which makes the use of local relevant data a core value, linked to international evidence to deliver a pathway towards the Paris Declaration goals for 2030.

Download the Fast Track Cardiff Research Strategy 2021-25 here (PDF).

Early impact of COVID-19 social distancing measures on reported sexual behaviour of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis users in Wales

Authors: Gillespie D, Knapper C, Hughes D, Couzens Z, Wood F, de Bruin M, Ma R, Jones AT, Williams A, Hood K.

Journal: Sexually Transmitted Infections. 2020 Sep 23;97(2):85-7.

Getting to Zero Survey Report

In November 2020 we published the results of our Getting to Zero Survey. You can read the full report here.

Findings from the survey project developed to explore what people from key groups think of the current services in Cardiff & Vale, what improvements they would suggest and any experiences of stigma they have faced.