The number of patients with HIV being admitted to hospital in England has more than doubled in a decade – suggesting those with the virus are living for longer, official statistics show.
There were 29,870 admissions in 2013-14, compared with 12,796 in 2003-04, with the rise predominately down to the big increase in the number of cases where the patient’s HIV was not the primary reason for treatment.
HIV charity Positively UK said the figures, revealed in answer to a written question in the House of Commons, represent a good news story in that more people are surviving for longer with the virus, but also a challenge to ensure that they are getting appropriate treatment.
Chief executive of Positively UK, Allan Anderson, said: “It shows that, from where we were 20 years ago with HIV, we are seeing people live longer, into old age and with healthier lifestyles, where they can work, have families.
“HIV care in the UK is incredibly good when people access specialist care, but where some of the problems arise is ... [when] a lot of people with HIV have other conditions, cancer or cardiovascular disease and then, when they are told to access their GP, it could be that people don’t understand HIV or have misconceptions.
“The other side of growing old [with HIV] is that we are also looking at people accessing care homes or getting home helps and we are hearing increasingly of people refusing to work with people because of HIV status.”
Anderson said the charity had been told of people with the virus being given separate cutlery in care homes and that some were wary of revealing that they were HIV positive because they feared discrimination.
“It’s sad and quite surprising; it’s a big concern,” he said. “We want more training for people in areas such as GP practices and specialist care homes to have a better understanding for HIV and how to manage it. We are concerned about areas such as drug interaction where the GP might be prescribing drugs that interfere with HIV medication.”
The charity is to launch a report called Positive Change next month, spelling out ways in which the next government must improve services.
According to Public Health England (PHE), a quarter of the UK population with HIV is aged over 50. The number of cases of HIV patients being treated where the virus was the primary diagnosis increased by 18% to 5,618 between 2003-04 and 2103-14, while for secondary diagnosis, it increased by 301% to 24,252.
The National Care Association (NCA) and National Care Forum, which represent independent and not-for-profit care providers respectively, both said they would support more training for staff to avoid any discrimination.
NCA chair Nadra Ahmed said: “We have to be aware that people with complex conditions are now admitted into care services where they wouldn’t have been in the past.”
Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:“It is extremely important that our patients with HIV get the care and treatment they need. Training in sexual health, including HIV, is a major area in our training curriculum, that all GP trainees must follow in order to qualify.”
She said adverse drug interactions could happen because HIV drugs were prescribed through hospitals and were not always on the prescribing systems of GPs, who therefore might not know about them.
She said the college had been working with the British HIV Association to standardise letters from HIV specialists in order to make GPs aware of possible interactions.
The figures have have been published amid controversy over claims by the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, that foreigners with HIV cost the NHS up to £25,000 per year and that 60% of people diagnosed with the virus every year in the UK were born abroad.
Anderson said Farage’s figures were wrong and that he was fuelling “misinformation and stigma” surrounding people who deserved support. PHE’s latest figures show that 54% of people in the UK with HIV were born abroad and the cost of treatment is put at £18,000 per year by the charity Avert.
