‘Peter’ from Walsall feels let down by care he received as a person living with HIV.
In this piece for ITV News, ‘Peter’ – from Walsall – speaks about his experience accessing surgery in the NHS as a person living with HIV:
I was on the trolly outside the doors to the operating theatre at the anaesthetists room and it was at that point I was told I would have to go back to the waiting room.
I went back to the waiting room and was told that because I was HIV-positive, my operation would have to be done last because they’d need to deep clean the theatre after my surgery.
The surgeon came through to speak to me and was really apologetic and said he had no issue with operating on me.
I was just shocked because I didn’t expect a medical professional to be so uneducated in HIV and transmission.
The Trust involved has now apologised, and committed to educating “colleagues about universal infection prevention and control procedures.”
Saving Lives began as a campaign within the NHS to raise awareness amongst non-specialist doctors and staff. HIV stigma is still prevalent across every area and all levels of our society – and has material impacts on people living with the virus. We need to be laser-focused in the fight against it.
