Health Care of People with HIV

Abstract

This anonymous postal questionnaire study was undertaken and completed in 1989 in an attempt to determine the views of 140 HIVinfected people on their health care needs and level of satisfaction with the services offered by the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit (RIDU), Manchester, United Kingdom. One hundred and twenty-two (87 percent) replied with a completed questionnaire. The majority (75 percent) preferred not to have a ward specifically allocated for their care and 95 percent did not want to receive their care at their local hospital. Only 16 percent of patients indicated that their general practitioner was aware of their HIV-positive status and 84 percent did not inform their general practitioner for fear of lack of confidentiality. The majority were satisfied with the services provided by the RIDU. Care of people with HIV in a regional infectious diseases unit with a scattered bed pattern is well accepted by the patients themselves. General practitioners should be encouraged to be involved in the primary care of HIV-infected people and more research is needed to evaluate how primary care is responding to the epidemic.