- APPG: Mental health services for people with HIV in England are failing to meet the needs of this particularly vulnerable group of people who are twice as likely to experience mental health difficulties as the general population.
According to a report launched today by a cross-party group of parliamentarians on HIV and AIDS, failure to address the mental health needs of people with HIV could negatively impact on progress towards ending the epidemic and is leading to increased infections.
The report “The Missing Link: HIV and Mental Health” highlights that in England:
People living with HIV are twice as likely as the general population to have a mental health illness in their life-time but nearly 40% of HIV clinics do not have access to a psychological or mental health professional within their multidisciplinary teams (MDTs).
Mental health support is proven to increase adherence to HIV medication by 83% in people with depression. Despite the clear public health benefits to treating mental health issues in people living with HIV, it is generally not until people experience more severe mental health symptoms that specialised HIV services are provided.
In the past HIV support services have provided psycho-social support for people who are newly diagnosed or struggling to cope with their HIV diagnosis. Many of these services have been decommissioned leaving people no choice but to access generic services for their mental health needs associated with their HIV diagnosis. There is no evidence that these services are effective for people living with HIV and the APPG is concerned that in their current form, they are not fit for purpose.
Young people who have acquired HIV from birth are particularly vulnerable to mental health crises for a number of reasons and there is great concern that as adolescents are moved into adult services where there is less specialised care, they are at a trigger point for a mental health crisis.
Benefit reviews are leading to mental health issues and suicides in people living with HIV as a direct result of assessors not understanding the psychological effects of stigma, mental health issues and HIV.
People with chemsex addiction are falling through commissioning gaps as drug and alcohol services are commissioned by local authorities but do not necessarily treat specific chemsex drugs or associated mental health issues and mental health services are commissioned by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) but do not provide addiction services.
Chair of the APPG on HIV and AIDS Stephen Doughty MP said:
“Mental health is the big elephant in the room that we need to start talking about if we are serious about getting to zero HIV infections by 2030.”
“This inquiry shows very clearly that in England mental health services need to be tailored to people with HIV who have specific issues around stigma. Generic services are not currently fit for purpose. With HIV support services under threat from local authority cuts it is vital that specialist mental health services are provided through HIV clinics and unfortunately this is not the case. Services are available but not across the whole country so, once again, it is a postcode lottery whether you will receive the care you need or not. While we looked specifically at England, there are lessons and findings we hope will be useful to devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too.”
“This report has come at a pertinent time with the threatened closure of the Mildmay Hospital, one of the world leading providers of psychiatric services for people with HIV because of issues around commissioning. We cannot allow failures in the structure of the health service to get in the way of providing life-saving care.”
“We heard some really disturbing evidence about patients who have committed suicide because of stigma and the traumatic process of navigating the benefits system while grappling with HIV and mental health issues. There really needs to be greater understanding of the impact on mental health of living with a long-term stigmatised health condition like HIV and this should be reflected in a new national HIV strategy.”
Paul Farmer CBE, Chief Executive of Mind said:
“We welcome the APPG’s focus on HIV and mental health and the recommendations in the report. Our mental and physical health are closely linked and we can’t treat them in isolation. This report makes clear the importance of making sure someone with a long-term condition like HIV gets the right support for their mental health too.
“As well as highlighting the changes we need to see from health services, we were pleased to see recognition of the impact other factors – such as housing, benefits, finances and employment – can have on both our physical and mental health. Only by adopting a cross-government approach to mental health will be able to improve the experiences if people with mental health problems. We hope this report goes some way towards making that ambition a reality."
You can find a link to the report here
