HIV Care: Access

Lord Cashman Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

There is what I call a three-pronged approach to interventions to reduce the number of people not being seen for care, which is so important, as I know the noble Lord is aware: identifying people who have not been seen for care; contacting them and re-engaging them; and addressing the barriers to engagement, which a number of noble Lords have referred to. This means sustaining engagement with care in the long term and supporting people with HIV.

We will review what lessons we are learning from the HIV action plan for England, which runs to 2025, and that means we will be able properly to inform the development of the new plan. I look forward to updating your Lordships’ House on this.

[Lord Cashman (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, we have come a long way since the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s, when many lives were lost. Progress has been made primarily through the work of activists, NGOs, the commitment of Governments and, indeed, the commitment and leadership shown by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, to whom I pay tribute. But we are seeing greater numbers of people disengaging from HIV care for many reasons, including stigma, mental health issues, poverty, discrimination, and the terrifying fear of isolation within families and communities. Will the Government therefore look at the projects carried out across the country, including in Greater Manchester, and, indeed, as has been mentioned, the NHS South East London Integrated Care Board project, which focused primarily on these issues and groups and successfully reintegrated people back into HIV care? Arguably, this approach must be in any national HIV action plan.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

Yes, we will be looking at all the work currently going on and at the successes—and there are many. I believe that my noble friend is referring to Fast-Track Cities, an international initiative involving cities tackling HIV through a multidisciplinary, multi- sectoral approach. There are 13 signatory cities in the UK, and all are beacons of good practice that we must learn from, including in order to find out what is not working. I also want to emphasise peer support, which has been shown to reduce self-stigma, but also to improve engagement in care and the taking of treatment, and to having low levels of virus. This area will obviously very much feature in the new strategy.