New HIV Mental Health Standards

posted: 08/04/2011

The first standards for mental health services for adults living with HIV are now out for public comments, until the end of May.

The new Standards for psychological support for adults living with HIV  were written by a team of experts, with the help of patients’ representatives and the HIV community sector, including George House Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust and NAT (National AIDS Trust).

The new standards describe the care that adults living with HIV should expect to receive from all the services providing mental health and psychological support, from any time after HIV diagnosis. These are not designed for children and teenagers with HIV, but it is hoped that standards for younger people will soon follow.

Psychological support means ‘any form of support which is aimed at helping people living with HIV to enhance their mental health and their cognitive and emotional wellbeing’. Mental health support comes in lots of different ways and not just from experts.

Many people with receive really valuable support from other people living with HIV – at services such as spaces, groups, weekends, which is known as 'peer support'. Experts like psychologists and other professionals (counsellors, nurses, psychiatrists and others) working in HIV clinics, at doctors surgeries and other clinics, as well as in HIV and other community services, provide more specialist support, treatment and help.

Stepped Care and 9 Standards

The standards follow a four-stage 'Stepped Care' model, to match people's growing psychological support needs, as these get more serious and complex. 

• Standard 1: promotion of mental health and wellbeing
• Standard 2: support at the time of diagnosis
• Standard 3: screening
• Standard 4: competence to provide psychological support
• Standard 5: comprehensive psychological support services
• Standard 6: co-ordination of psychological support
• Standard 7: evidence-based practice
• Standard 8: evaluation and audit
• Standard 9: engagement of people living with HIV
   

Say what you think

Comments on the draft standards are very welcome from anyone with experience (good or bad) of using or providing mental health support for people living with HIV. They’d like people to use their special form for your response. This helps by asking questions, and gives you space for any general comments on the whole standards, and on each of the 9 standards.

The standards should be used by the people deciding what mental health support services for people with HIV are provided in each district and by the people providing those services for checking their services are up to the standards.

The Standards

Please use this consultation response form and send your comments to MedFash by 5.00pm on Tuesday 31st May 2011.

These standards are a joint initiative of the Faculty for HIV & Sexual Health of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Society (BPS), the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and the Medical Foundation for AIDS & Sexual Health (MedFASH).

New Government Mental Health Strategy - No Health Without Mental Health

Guides for More HIV Testing

posted: 04/04/2011

The number of people who got infected with HIV within the UK in the last 10 years has almost doubled. New infections that happened in the UK (rather than abroad) rose from 1,950 in 2001 to 3,780 in 2010.

In response the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE, the body that tells the NHS what healthcare works and is good value for money) has issued new guidance for the testing of the two groups most at risk of getting HIV in the UK, gay/bi men and African people.

HIV testing helps people keep good health

Testing and treating people with HIV helps the person with HIV stay healthy and to live a near-normal life, helps avoid passing on HIV to others, and can save the NHS a lot of money.
 

The NICE guidance aims to increase the numbers taking HIV tests to reduce the number of people who do not know they have HIV and so help prevent HIV being passed on by Africans living in the UK and gay men.

Gay and bisexual men remain the group most at risk of becoming infected with HIV in the UK with 70 per cent more men being diagnosed with HIV in the past 10 years (from 1,810 in 2001 to 3,080 in 2010).
 

‘NAT welcomes the new NICE guidance on increasing testing among African communities and gay men. Not only is the number of people being diagnosed with HIV still too high, late diagnosis is an extremely important problem as it means a person is likely to have had HIV for a number of years – with a high risk of transmission to sexual partners – and it can also reduce the effectiveness of treatment,” commented Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust).

‘It is crucial that HIV testing becomes ‘normalised’ in our society, not just among gay men and African communities, but also amongst health professionals. Many people with HIV attend NHS services for years without being offered an HIV test and this neglect needs to be addressed and stopped.’

'The importance of HIV testing should now be reflected in Government plans as they reorganise the NHS and public health. In particular, it is essential that HIV late diagnosis remain a key outcome indicator to assess progress in public health at the local level. It is also vital that the extensive reorganisation of the NHS does not undermine recent momentum in HIV testing.’
 

‘Public Health England must ensure that the vision for HIV testing amongst gay men and African communities set out in the NICE Guidance is consistently implemented across the whole of the NHS and public health system.’
 

NICE HIV testing guidance for gay/bi men

NICE testing guidance for Africans living in the UK

Source – HPA press release

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Fresh Gay Men’s HIV Prevention

posted: 16/03/2011

HIV prevention work for gay and bi men in England has been freshened up in the latest edition of Making it Count. Making it Count is the HIV prevention framework used in England by gay men’s and other HIV prevention organisations.
 

Making it Count first appeared in 1998 and the new edition describes how to do HIV prevention and education with gay and bisexual men. It’s been totally rewritten and is available here. It's produced by the CHAPS gay men's HIV prevention and sexual health partnership.

George House Trust is not part of CHAPS but we play a lively and active role. At the CHAPS conference last week we made two conference presentations based on our experience of the sexual health and HIV support needs of HIV+ gay and bi men.

George House Trust also made detailed comments and suggestions for improving the latest Making It Count.

Risky Choices

The new edition of Making It Count considers the various choices facing men who have sex with men that make a difference to HIV transmission, and puts more emphasis on what motivates and drives men in making these critical decisions on sexual risks.

Making It Count brings education and empowerment together in HIV prevention, in a way that values and respects gay and bi men, including men with HIV. It includes using social norms to influence men’s sexual behaviour.

Best Sex with Least Harm
Making It Count aims to promote the best sex with the least harm among gay men and bisexual men.

Making It Count Briefing Sheets

Making It Count Briefing Sheets are also available. These are handy summaries of the evidence on important HIV prevention and sexual health issues.

Making It Count Briefing Sheets already available are 

• Using fear in HIV prevention
• Herpes
• LGV
• Gonorrhoea, chlamydia and non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU)
• Hepatitis C
• Social marketing.

Future Briefings will soon be added for

• Poppers
• Microbicides
• PEP
• Undiagnosed HIV infection.

Making It Count Briefing Sheets

Making It Count from Sigma Research

New Sexual Health Strategy

posted: 21/01/2011

There will, at last, be a new Sexual Health Strategy for England this year. Public Health Minister, Anne Milton, agreed it is time to replace the HIV and sexual health strategy, which was drawn up in 2001.
 

David Cairns MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV & AIDS, shamed English health ministers into action, by making an unfavourable comparison with Scotland, who have a more recent Sexual Health plan.

The All Party Parliamentary Group, and others, repeatedly pushed the Government for a new English strategy.

Finally at a debate on World AIDS Day in Westminster Hall, the Public Health Minister announced there will be a new strategy for England. Anne Milton confirmed it would be more than just a ‘position paper.’
 

“HIV has changed enormously in the last decade. It is now a long-term health condition, not a death sentence, and there are far more people now living with the virus. We’ve been arguing for a new strategy to reflect those changes and I am very pleased that the Government has decided to draw one up this year,” said David Cairns MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group.
 

Remember this?

The 2001 English strategy aimed to:

• reduce the transmission of HIV and STIs
• reduce the prevalence of undiagnosed HIV and STIs
• reduce unintended pregnancy rates
• improve health and social care for people living with HIV
• reduce the stigma associated with HIV and STIs.

To do this the 2001 English Strategy said about HIV, that it would :

• provide clear information about avoiding STIs, including HIV
• increase HIV testing [testing is up]
• ensure there is a sound evidence base of what works in HIV/STI prevention
• set a target to reduce the number of new HIV infections [this target was hopelessly missed]
• develop managed networks for HIV and sexual health services [we have 3 NW networks]
• set a target to reduce the number with undiagnosed HIV [now at last, but we had to wait until 2011]
• ensure earlier access to HIV treatment [This is still a major problem, England has a high level of late HIV diagnosis]
• set standards for treatment, support and social care of people living with HIV [where are the standards for social care support? but we do have excellent standards for treatment]
• prioritise researching good practice in sexual health and HIV

On other sexual health issues the 2001 plan was to 

• evaluate more integrated sexual health services
• screen for Chlamydia
• stress open access to GUM services and more urgent appointments
• ensure a range of contraceptive services are provided
• address the patchy abortion service
• increase hepatitis B vaccinations
• set standards for treating STIs
• train and develop the sexual health workforce
   

Where's Our HIV Strategy?

posted: 02/11/2010

NAT has just launched a petition for a national strategy on HIV - its campaign for 2010 World AIDS Day.

There will be more than 100,000 people living with HIV in the UK in one years time, but the national strategy for HIV and sexual health in England runs out this December. There are no plans yet for a new one.
 

However the UK made a promise to the UN to have a HIV strategy which:

• demonstrates political leadership
• is properly financed
• is genuinely multi-sectoral and cross-departmental
• promotes human rights
• confronts stigma and discrimination
• effectively meets the need for high quality HIV prevention, testing, treatment, care and support.

This World AIDS Day, NAT is calling on the Prime Minister to keep this promise and create a new national strategy to combat HIV and link this to those agreed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Petition to keep the HIV promise
Please add your voice to the HIV promise campaign here

And for other action ideas visit the World AIDS Day site 
 

Thanks and please Share

We and NAT are grateful for your support for UK-wide leadership and action on HIV. Please spread the word about the e-petition.

National HIV strategy for England