Lawyer Frank Maguire has alleged that people in Scotland with haemophilia were still contracting hepatitis C from contaminated blood products long after it was known that heat treating would kill off the virus. More than 500 Scots caught the virus in the 1980s before proper screening measures were introduced in 1991. But now it is alleged that people were still contracting hepatitis C from blood treatments as late as 1995. “The year 1986 is the date by which these products should have been super-heat treated,” Mr Maguire told BBC Scotland, “but I am getting cases from 1987 up to 1995.” Health minister Malcolm Chisholm has refused a public enquiry into the allegations.
An anthropologist from Brunel University was under fire last month after she claimed that young gay men are deliberately trying to catch HIV. Dr Melissa Parker said: “Being diagnosed with HIV is a badge of recognition of being truly gay.” But her remarks were dismissed as unfounded and unproven by HIV charity workers after she admitted that she had no figures to support the claim. THT’s head of health promotion Will Nutland said Dr Parker’s research was unreliable. “Her assumptions will only serve to further demonise gay men,” he said.
Moves to involve patients more in the NHS is disturbing family doctors who say it will increase their workload. A BUPA survey of GPs found that 88 per cent of doctors worried that extending patient involvement and choice would put more pressure on them. Professor Alan Maynard, of York University, said: “We have to guard against the possibility that the expert patient with the right information and an understanding of the system monopolises GPs time.” But the Department of Health backed moves to involve patients more. “Choice improves patient experience of the NHS by giving them real power to make decisions about their treatment and care,” said the DoH’s Harry Cayton.
The Medical Foundation for Aids and Sexual Health (MedFASH) has released new
standards for HIV prevention, treatment and care services within the NHS.
Dr Patrick French said: “About a third of people living with the virus
do not even know they are infected and risk severe illness if not diagnosed.
The standards should help healthcare staff to work together.” For details,
visit www.medfash.org.uk
Tyddyn Bach, the North Wales respite centre, has been saved in the nick of time from imminent closure by a £130,000 grant from the Welsh Assembly. The Trust faced closure because of a funding shortage earlier this year. Now with the Assembly grant the charity will be able to purchase the centre in Penmaenmawr. For details, call 01492 623322 or visit: www.tyddynbachtrust.org.uk
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is considering changes which discriminate
against gay men and bar HIV positive people from obtaining life insurance.
In a carefully worded statement the ABI said: “We are consulting on proposals
to update the way in which insurance companies treat applicants for life and
protection insurance where HIV may be an issue.”
To join the consultation, visit the ABI website at www.abi.org.uk (see also ‘Insurance
ban is unfair’).
Despite 2003 being named European Year for the Disabled, the government’s disability watchdog has warned that gaps in existing legislation are “a license to discriminate.” The Disability Rights Commission says as many as 10 per cent of callers to a national helpline were turned away last year because they were not protected by the law. The government has promised to extend the rights of people with HIV under the Disability Discrimination Act from the point of diagnosis but has yet to act.
