Evaluation of services for people with HIV/AIDS in an inner‐city health authority: perspectives of key service providers

This paper reports the findings of the first phase of a study designed to assess the needs of people with HIV and AIDS and the extent to which these needs are being met by services in Camberwell Health Authority in inner London. The study involves collecting information and opinions from key service providers, clients with HIV/AIDS and their informal carers. It is the service provider data which will be presented here. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 47 key service providers involved in the care and support of people with HIV/AIDS in the Camberwell Health District. Respondents were drawn from the local health services, local social services departments and a number of locally active voluntary organizations. The aim was to gather respondents' views on their individual roles and the roles of the organizations they represented, the health and social needs of people with HIV/AIDS and the extent to which these were being met by current service provision and the co-ordination of services for people with HIV/AIDS. The data showed that a broad range of services were utilized by people with HIV/AIDS, reflecting a wide variety of health and social care needs. The majority of respondents felt that some of the needs of people with HIV/AIDS were similar to those of people living with other chronic illnesses (such as cancer). However, they also identified a number of problems which were either unique or more severe for people with the virus. Services for people with HIV/AIDS were generally felt to be poorly co-ordinated and a number of areas of overlap and gaps in service provision were identified.