Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have been made of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of people living with HIV across the UK; and what support is being provided to those individuals.

The Government and the National Health Service recognise that the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on some people living with long term conditions like HIV can be significant.

Mental health services across England have remained open for business throughout the pandemic and mental health providers have been working hard to ensure that all those who need them have access to mental health services. This includes instructing mental health trusts to establish all-age 24 hours a day, seven days a week crisis helplines and issuing guidance to trusts on staff training, prioritisation of services and how to maximise use of digital and virtual channels to keep delivering support to patients.

In addition, the ‘Every Mind Matters’ online resource provides advice and practical tips to help look after mental health and wellbeing. It has now seen 3.8 million visits and over 380,000 additional completions of mind plans to improve wellbeing and mental health since the introduction of social distancing.