Staff perceptions about the time needed to carry out HIV testing and to manage the results appear to be the main barriers to expanding testing to non-traditional settings, the qualitative arm of the HINTS study has found. Many healthcare staff also had preconceptions about patients’ attitudes to testing which were not borne out when patients were asked their views. Focus groups were conducted in the pre- and post-testing phases. Four themes emerged from the focus group discussions: stigma of HIV; targeted versus routine testing; special skills and operational issues. [With external links to current evidence]