HIV & AIDS Forum

HIV&AIDS FORUM Thursday 10th December 1998 at 12.00 noon in the Seminar Room at Minton House At the previous HIV Forum in September, a B P Staffs Service User Representative asked that the gratitude of service users for the post of clinical nurse specialist be made known and minuted. Having benefited from the services of a clinical nurse specialist for many months, Service Users were anxious to let people know that this post was an improvement to the service offered them by North Staffs Health in many ways. It was also noted that by the creation of this post, North Staffordshire Health had fallen in line with South Staffordshire who have enjoyed the services of an HIV clinical nurse specialist for some time. This was omitted from the previous minutes and It was agreed that they would be amended.
	Peter Butler informed everyone that in order to reduce the costly wastage of HIV drugs, Pharmacy would in future only issue one month's supply at a time.
	It was noted by some members of the forum that the Service User Research had been undertaken only amongst intravenous drug users and was of little relevance to the HIV community overall.
	The work being done with HIV+ children & children affected by HIV was noted and together with the work done by Barnardos was seen as an example of good practice. There was much discussion for and against purchasing outside skills.The glossy backed Sexual Health Strategy for North Staffordshire "The Millennium and Beyond" was distributed to those members of the forum who had not received a copy. There was no discussion.
	Niall McGrogran dished out jobs to provide information and feedback for the HIV Training .
	The success of the G-Mhap project in winning first prize in the NHS Equality Awards as an example of excellence was recorded and those concerned were duly congratulated. (see here)