GHT's Trustees agree a Strategic Partnership Position Statement

posted: 02/06/2011

This position statement comes during the worst economic recession to impact on the voluntary sector in the UK in living history. As a consequence, many charities face significant funding cuts, some have already ceased trading and up to 50% of charities in the UK are not expected to survive the recession.

The Trustees of George House Trust (GHT) are particularly concerned about the future of HIV social care services for people living with HIV across the North West of England.There is a real danger that the strong legacy of the HIV social care sector could be lost.

GHT’s Trustees believe that it is vital that HIV social care provision is maintained for all people living with HIV.In order to achieve this, charities within the HIV sector in the North West, and across the UK if necessary, will need to explore dynamic and creative ways of working together strategically.

This work could take a number of forms: from greater sharing of information and knowledge through to pooling resources, joint funding applications, influencing commissioners, forming consortia in order to win contracts and mergers.

GHT welcomes opportunities to explore new ways of working with highly regarded charities within the HIV sector. This will help to ensure the survival of HIV social care services within the North West. 

Anyone requesting further details should contact our Chief Executive Rosie Robinson.

HIV Tests at Casualty

posted: 27/07/2010

Every person who goes to London A&E departments could soon be tested for HIV under plans being considered by NHS London. In the first move of its kind, the HIV checks could become routine at emergency units and will be offered to any adult attending casualty. The move is being rolled out at Chelsea & Westminster NHS foundation trust following a hugely successful Department of Health funded study at the south-west London hospital.
 

2 people diagnosed every month at one A&E

It comes because of the numbers of people with HIV and the rise in HIV across London. The pilot HIV testing at Chelsea and Westminster’s A&E department found nearly half a dozen new people with HIV in only three months.
 

The Health Protection Agency recently recommended that the NHS should as a matter of routine do a HIV healthcare check everyone when they go to an A&E department in any areas with higher rates of HIV. Now a number of other health trusts are already seriously considering this.
 

North West Too?

In NW England, Manchester, Salford and Blackpool have rates of HIV high enough to justify routine HIV screening in A&E.
 

Better Health and prevention

HIV testing at A&E is one way to improve the health of people with undiagnosed HIV. New figures show that at least one in every four people with HIV do not know they have HIV. Late diagnosis worsens people’s health and shortens people’s lives. Undiagnosed HIV means people don't get the treatment they need for good health and people may be passing on HIV unwittingly to their sexual partners.
 

Under 18s

Dr Rachael Jones, from Chelsea and Westminster hospital, said she has treated nearly a dozen patients under 18 in the last three years in West London but this was just “the tip of the iceberg”.
The consultant blamed ministers for focusing on underage pregnancy instead of on safer sex and said HIV tests should be routine for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation. She said: “For a long time it was men having sex with men presenting with the virus. Now we're seeing teenagers coming through for the first time with HIV. It only takes one episode of unprotected sex for them to become infected.”
Dr Jones said that the “Don't die of ignorance” shock campaign of the Eighties failed to have a lasting impact and that many teenagers do not even know what HIV is.
 

Source 
 

Crusaid Merge with THT

posted: 14/06/2010

Crusaid, Britain's largest HIV fundraising and grant making charity has just announced it has merged with the biggest HIV and sexual health charity, Terrence Higgins Trust. 

The merged organisation is now part of the THT brand and will continue to provide grants for people with HIV in need and it hopes to improve HIV fundraising. The news comes just one week after Crusaid's annual Walk for Life in London raised an estimated £250,000.
 

Jordan Hay, Chief Executive of Crusaid, said: “We initiated this merger to ensure that our hardship fund can continue to make a vital difference to the ever-increasing numbers of people diagnosed with HIV each year in the UK. THT shares our vision and values and we are excited about the opportunities to support people with HIV that this merger presents.”
 

Senior staff members from both organisations will now refresh the anti-poverty strategy to support people with HIV, based on research and experience from both organisations.
 

Sir Nick Partridge, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “I’m delighted to confirm that Crusaid and Terrence Higgins Trust have merged. The merger will preserve the Crusaid Hardship Fund in a very challenging economic climate and help ensure that people with HIV have the ongoing support they so vitally need. We are also looking forward to combining our experience and research for a renewed anti-poverty strategy in support of people living with HIV in the UK.”
 

Source 
Crusaid merger statement 
THT’s press releases
 

Advice for Stranded Travellers

posted: 21/04/2010

Some people with HIV, stranded by the air travel chaos following the Icelandic volcano’s ash cloud, are running out of HIV medications. Here’s what to do.

It is very important to provide as much documentation as possible in order to limit the cost to you.

Stuck in the UK?
People with HIV stuck in the United Kingdom who are running out of HIV medication can approach HIV clinics in the UK for medication, but may be charged at the discretion of the clinic. Whether an individual is charged will depend on their country of residence.Find a clinic using NAM's database of services.

If you are from a country in the European Economic Area (European Union plus Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland) you will not be charged, if you produce your European Health Insurance card. If you cannot produce your card, you will be charged and issued with a receipt, and you can claim the cost when you return home. If you do not have this card, you can obtain one from your country's embassy in the United Kingdom, usually within 24 hours.

If you are stuck in the UK but from a country outside the EEA that has a reciprocal health agreement with the United Kingdom, you will not be charged if you can show your passport. Countries with reciprocal agreements 

If your stuck in the UK and your country of residence does NOT have a reciprocal health agreement with the UK, you will be charged.

Examples of help and BHIVA's advice

In London a number of National Health Service HIV clinics are issuing medication. At the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for example, individuals needing medication can obtain an appointment with an HIV doctor and will receive a prescription for two weeks’ worth of medication.

Policies may vary at other clinics, and British HIV Association chairman Dr Ian Williams is writing to all HIV doctors in the UK to ask them to be flexible if approached by patients who are not registered at their clinic.

In addition to the cost of drugs, some clinics may charge a fee for the consultation with a doctor.

Stuck outside the UK?
People with HIV from the UK who are stranded overseas can approach local HIV clinics or support organisations for help. You can search for organisations and clinics by country here.

What you pay will depend on the country where you are stuck. If you have the European Health Insurance card, you can use this throughout the European Economic Area to obtain whatever is freely available through the local health system. You will have to pay any local costs that would be normally met by local residents from their own pockets or health insurance, such as co-payments on medicines.

A similar situation applies for countries with reciprocal health agreements. You can check the list and find out what is freely available here  and find general advice for British citizens on health care abroad here.

Get an email/fax from your clinic

Your clinic in the UK should be able to provide a letter, by email or fax, to the foreign hospital detailing what treatment you are receiving and what drugs you need - in particular the correct dosages. Many HIV doctors may be away this week, attending the British HIV Association annual conference in Manchester. If you do not have contact details for other staff at your HIV clinic, you can find them here.

An NHS prescription is not valid overseas and you may need to obtain an appointment with a doctor in order to get a foreign prescription, but this will not be the case in all countries. In some countries it you can buy anti-retrovirals from a pharmacy without a prescription.

Source

Drug Firms Merge HIV Arms

posted: 17/04/2009

Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer are to merge the HIV arms of both these international drug companies, in a move to better develop and market HIV drugs. This follows an announcement in February that GSK was going to reduce the prices of its drugs, including those for HIV, across the developing world.

Britain's biggest drugs company, GlaxoSmithKline, is to pool resources for treating HIV with its USA rival Pfizer, in a bid to reinvigorate financial returns from tackling the global epidemic.

GSK and Pfizer announced that they intend to create a new company, headquartered in London but as yet unnamed, to manage their HIV operations with initial working capital of £250m.

The lion's share of the business will be owned by GSK, which will take 85% to reflect its portfolio of big-selling HIV drugs such as Combivir and Kivexa. The other 15% will go to Pfizer, which will contribute potentially promising new treatments.

Delivering new drugs

GSK's chief executive, Andrew Witty, said the "clear focus" of the joint venture would be in delivering new drugs to build on what he described as the drugs industry's remarkable success in tackling HIV over the last two decades.

Witty recalled that as recently as 1990, it was extremely difficult to conduct clinical trials in HIV because people rarely lived long enough to complete studies. He said: "I think it's one of the finest performances of the pharmaceuticals industry to have transformed an incredibly frightening infectious disease into something more manageable."

The new company will have 11 drugs on the market and a further six in clinical development. It will have a market share of 19% and annual sales of £1.6bn.

Once the global leader in HIV drugs, GSK has slipped to second place behind a USA rival, Gilead, and has seen sales stutter. Revenue from GSK's HIV treatments fell by 5% to £1.5bn last year, while sales of the company's entire pharmaceuticals portfolio slipped 3% to £20.3bn. It has few new HIV drugs in the pipeline, but Pfizer has several.

Pfizer has a relatively newly launched HIV drug, Selzentry, and is working on several more in trials.

"Both companies are facing some pressures in the HIV area," said Damien Conover, an analyst at the Chicago research firm Morningstar. "Selzentry is not doing as well as it probably could if it had more resources behind it."

Cautious welcome

Charities supporting people living with HIV greeted the tie-up with cautious optimism. Sir Nick Partridge, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said his organisation "welcomes any move which will strengthen HIV research and development and benefit people living with HIV".

Partridge said that 33 million people lived with HIV worldwide: "We need to be making constant advances to stay one step ahead of the virus."

The new company will be run by Dominique Limet, a former head of GSK's French operation who presently runs the group's personalised medicine strategy.

Under the arrangement, either GSK or Pfizer could be rewarded with a greater ownership stake depending on whose laboratories come up with promising treatments in the future.

GSK's chief executive Witty, who is sceptical about multimillion-dollar mergers among drugs firms, suggested that this tie-up could be an example of how collaboration could be made to work elsewhere in future. "It's not necessarily a template but it will apply elsewhere," he said. "This structure is a good example of the way we want to create value and generate efficiency in our business."

He pledged that the new company would adopt "enlightened mindsets" towards the pricing and availability of HIV drugs in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries.
 

Source