Participants had the opportunity to work with others living with HIV and service providers from England , Scotland and Wales ; to learn more about their country’s strategy, what it says and what impact it may have on treatment and care.
If you want to read about the Scotland or Wales sessions click the appropriate country name for those pages.
England 
Speaker: Jane Mezzone, Department of Health (DH)
Facilitators, Stephen Bitti, UKC and Rhon Reynolds, African HIV Policy Network (AHPN)
Rapporteur: Babs Evans, NAT
This workshop was held in the main conference hall and was attended by around 150 people.
Jane Mezzone outlined these as follows:
Reduce transmission of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (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
Reports of HIV diagnoses of infections transmitted received by the end of June 2004 show a marked increase over the past few years in the category of sex between men and women, the majority occurring ‘in Africa ’.
Key national programmes for HIV in England :
Offer and uptake of antenatal testing for all pregnant women
HIV prevention and testing campaigns for affected communities
Dedicated helplines
Publication of Health Promotion and Commissioning Toolkits
Development of a Stigma and Discrimination Action Plan
Adult sexual health awareness campaign (‘Sex Lottery’) for young persons aged 18-30
Dedicated funding to Voluntary and Community Organisations
HIV treatment and care free to all UK residents
HIV test offered to all GUM clinic attendees
HIV standards for NHS HIV services (published October 2003)
Managed Service Networks development
Paediatric HIV Network development to improve standards for children
Dedicated funding to local authorities for social care and support services
Development of HIV and STI screening in non clinical settings for gay men and people from African communities
Nursing competencies framework developed with professional nurse bodies
Accredited distance learning packs for nurses specialising in sexual health and HIV
Publications of guidelines manual for specialist Sexual Health Advisers
Increased roles for GPs with a special interest
Common Data Set development
Development of a 48 hour access target for GUM
Pilot survey of waiting times
Sexual health leads identified in all Primary Care Trusts in all parts of England
Independent Advisory Group established to advise government on progress towards implementation
Government must work in partnership with local and national providers in statutory and non-statutory sectors, health promoters and commissioners to support sustainable changes in behaviour and quality services
Need for effective performance management and monitoring to assess progress towards strategic aims
A multi-faceted response is necessary to implement the strategy and a number of excellent initiatives have been introduced as part of this process
The relationship between the Department of Health, NHS and voluntary sector is key
Performance management is crucial to ensure sustained progress and accountability
There is a need to further build the relationship between DH, NHS and voluntary sector, HIV voluntary sector specifically
Specific steps need to be taken to ensure sexual health and HIV care are integral parts of performance management at PCT level
There is a need to focus on the most at risk communities
This workshop was evaluated by 88 people. There was a wide age range, the youngest participant being 22 and oldest 67. The average age was 42.
Gender
61 male, 25 female, 2 not stated
Ethnicity
52 white, 24 black African, 5 other non-white, 7 not stated
Sexuality
46 gay, 35 heterosexual, 3 bisexual, 4 not stated
Usefulness
Very useful |
Useful |
Not useful |
38% (33) |
56% (49) |
6% (6) |
34 people set themselves action points.
Keep informed, read more regarding the issues
Review the sexual health strategy
Follow up on work for HIV service policy
Will fill in the info gaps
Campaign for targets in sexual health services
Press for NSF for Sexual Health
Get more involved in lobbying
Support this strategy, its working
Be more questionable of my own services
A greater understanding for future reference
Will seek info from local PCT
Find out what is happening at my local lead
Get local commissioning info from PALS
Promote it
Break down strategy for more people to understand
Too short for such an important issue
Move on to Treatment and Trials