More help urged for older people living with HIV

More needs to be done to help people living into older age with HIV, according to the Royal College of Nursing.

About a fifth of people in the UK who are HIV positive are now aged 50 and over, but there is often a lack of training for healthcare workers, according to the college. Nursing staff will debate the issue of HIV awareness at its annual congress today in Liverpool.

The RCN quotes Ian Lamb, 61, who lives in Blackpool with his partner. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, at the age of 42.

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He said: “The attitudes towards HIV haven’t really changed in some parts of the country from when I was first diagnosed 20 years ago – it is just more subtle and less noticeable now. After 20 years I still have to be careful who I tell or what I say.”

The college’s chief executive, Peter Carter, said: “The attention and focus may have moved on from HIV since the late 80s but the condition is still very real for those who have been diagnosed and we owe it to them to provide the support, medically, emotionally and financially, that they need.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Older people diagnosed with HIV should be able to access any additional health and social care services they need to ensure they can live independent and fulfilled lives.”