research indicates that since the uptake of HAART the rates of opportunistic infections and hospitalisation of people with HIV have been greatly reduced, saving the NHS money in the longer term.
Pharmacists - unsung heroes
Pharmacists at HIV clinics play a major role in correcting doctors' prescription errors. A study from 17 hospitals around the country found on average 1.4 interventions or queries by a pharmacist for every prescription written - 592 interventions for 412 prescriptions for HIV patients in just one week this January. 25 per cent of these were considered to be of 'moderate to major' clinical significance. Heather Leake Date, senior pharmacist at Brighton General Hospital, said the study showed the vital role of pharmacists in HIV treatment.
Toxicity is why people change
Adverse side-effects are the main reason that patients on HIV medications change their drugs, according to Dr Martin Fisher of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. Dr Mark Nelson, of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, said that patients' first choice of anti-HIV medication is vitally important. They could run out of choices quickly, and there was therefore a need to develop ever easier-to-take and more tolerable drug regimes.
Who is lost from clinics and why?
As many as four per cent of patients are lost from HIV clinics, according to a study from the Royal Free and University College Medical School. Dr Lewis Haddow said

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that a few patients are lost but that they were usually younger, with a low viral