And heterosexuals with HIV?
Although Wales is bucking the trend in the rest of the UK, where heterosexual
rates of HIV infection are outstripping
gay ones, heterosexual rates are rising in Wales, as
Robert John states. So how do services reflect this?
One heterosexual HIV positive man from Swansea that I talked to, who has
been living in Wales since 1997, seemed more than happy with his local
treatment: "As far as I'm concerned, I get a Rolls-Royce service
in Wales," he said.
When Dave Williams (not his real name) was first diagnosed, he was treated
at St Mary's in London and he remembers, "my first thought was that
I would have to settle in London." But he didn't, and is now more
than happy being treated at the Singleton Hospital in Swansea under consultant
Dr Yoganathan. He has Hodgkin's lymphoma and still goes to London for
further specialist treatment, where there's more expertise for this condition.
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"I've been an in-patient in London and Wales. You do get more access to your consultant in Wales," affirms Dave. "Wales spends more per capita in the NHS than England. Nursing is better, food is better and equipment is better. The pharmacist sits you down in a room to talk about your drugs. Everything is cosier and more personal. The drawbacks Dave cites are mainly that "most HIV positive people round here keep their status to themselves and there are no specific services for Africans."
Of course, drug use is a big concern in Wales. About 40
per cent of registered users come from north Wales - largely from the
North Wales coast and Wrexham. Surprisingly, perhaps, the HIV epidemic
has never really taken hold in the local IV drug scene; it's a smaller
group of around 4.8 per cent of HIV cases compared with 5.6 per cent in
England.
Hepatitis C is a different story: at 5700 cases last year and increasing,
the hep C rate is 50 per cent more than the UK rate.
Is there any local support service?
Swansea and Cardiff have relatively big gay scenes and
tend to attract people from a wide
