FEATURE
Equality in Care
With one in four people living with HIV aged 50 or over, Eleanor Briggs from NAT (National AIDS Trust), explains the essentials about providing care.
I’ve taken an increasing number of calls from care providers about people living with HIV. Why this increase? Well, one of the many positive outcomes of advances in HIV treatment, is that people with the virus are now living into old age. In fact, if you were diagnosed with HIV in the UK today, you could expect to have a normal life expectancy. This means our care services need to be ready to help people living with HIV.
“I sometimes get asked what people need to do when starting to care for someone with HIV. I think the most important thing is to make them feel welcome. Create an environment that celebrates diversity.”
This isn’t difficult – in many ways it’s the same as providing good quality care to any individual. However, some people’s knowledge and understanding of HIV hasn’t kept up with scientific advances. There can be unnecessary worry about the virus being passed on in a care setting so it’s vital care workers realise there’s no risk of HIV transmission from everyday care activities.
More than 95% of cases in the UK are transmitted through sex. And it is important to know that when someone is doing well on treatment, the medication reduces the amount of virus in their body to such a low level they are essentially non-
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infectious. You’re actually far more likely to get HIV from someone who doesn’t know they have the virus than from someone that does.
Confidentiality is really important to people living with HIV. Once you understand there’s no danger of the virus being passed on through caring activities, it’s much easier to safeguard this. There is no need for staff not involved in the medical care of someone to be told about their HIV status. Residents or families and friends should never be told someone has HIV – in fact to do these things would be a serious breach of data protection law.
There are some specific things to be aware of. Although HIV treatment has improved massively, it’s still vital people attend their HIV clinic and take their treatment as directed. If it’s to be effective, treatment must be taken regularly and some people have specific dietary requirements relating to medication. You also need to be aware of possible treatment interactions with other medication so keeping in good contact with someone’s HIV clinic is crucial.
I sometimes get asked what people need to do when starting to care for someone with HIV. I think the most important thing is to make them feel welcome. Create an environment that celebrates diversity - the majority of people living with HIV in the UK come from gay, and black African communities. If people feel safe and secure, then that’s a great start.
Finally, a word about care workers living with HIV. Of course there’s no reason why people can’t work in the sector,
and many do. Sometimes however, because of the misunderstanding about how the virus is transmitted, they face discrimination at work. It’s worth reminding colleagues that all people living with HIV, whether an employee or a service user, are protected from discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
There’s more information about all these aspects of caring for someone living with HIV in our new free resource, HIV: A guide for care providers.
Key facts for care providers
• You can’t get HIV from everyday care activities e.g. washing or moving people.
• Most people on treatment have a very low level of HIV in their body so they are effectively non- infectious.
• Confidentiality is very important to people living with HIV – staff not directly involved in someone’s medical care do not need to know someone has HIV.
• Adherence to treatment is vital – make sure people attend clinic appointments and take treatment as prescribed.
• People living with HIV are protected from discrimination by the Equality Act 2010.
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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