New HIV Respite Centre
posted: 27/11/2009
Cornish HIV charity, Kernow Positive Support, has been given £270,000 from the Government to create a HIV respite centre. It will be the only one in England, as the alternative is Tyddyn Bach, in north Wales.
Kernow Positive Support said it still needs planning permission from Cornwall Council, but has found a suitable property for conversion in north Cornwall, near Camelford. The Department of Health's AIDS Support Grant awarded the charity the special capital funding for the building conversion.
Centre will help boost people's outlook
Nicky Salisbury, a consultant in HIV at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, said the facility is not for medical care. She said: "It's not like a hospice for sick people, it's for respite care, for the psychological recharging rather than any medical recharging."
Kernow Positive Support have found a Grade II listed farmhouse near Camelford that needs renovating and conversion. Anthony Basnett, of the charity, said: "It's in a beautiful but fairly remote part of Cornwall and offers peace and quiet and beautiful scenery."
AIDS Support Grant
Mostly AIDS Support Grant is used by councils to pay for HIV support services, social care, HIV needs assessments and expert training, but they can also apply for money to pay for capital (building) projects. In NW England one council recently proposed this to fund development of special housing for people with HIV.
Running costs
Following the dramatic impact of modern combination HIV treatments since the mid 1990s, the small network of UK HIV hospices and respite centres has now almost completely vanished. A major problem is meeting the annual running costs - persuading NHS Primary Care Trusts and others to pay for someone to have a respite break is not easy. Obtaining the capital grant for a building conversion is the easy part.
We do wish Kernow Positive Support well, but hope that the competition doesn't threaten almost the last of what is left, Tyddyn Bach.
Source
Kernow Positive Support
Tyddyn Bach HIV respite centre, North Wales
AIDS Support Grant
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