Pharmacists have a responsibility to help HIV patients who get lost in the system by talking to them about their medication, UCL pharmacy lecturer David Pao has said.

A high proportion of HIV patients were disengaging from care in the first year of being diagnosed, Dr Pao, who studies adherence in HIV patients, told C+D.

But, although hospitals were losing track of these patients, pharmacy was "one of the pillars of medicine within the community" and was therefore well placed to offer advice and information on HIV, he said after speaking at the UCL School of Pharmacy seminar last Thursday (January 17) about optimising the use of HIV and Aids medication.

A high proportion of HIV patients were disengaging from care in the first year of being diagnosed, Dr Pao said	More on HIV Pharmacy demands greater role in HIV prevention HIV and AIDS resources for public and pharmacy Sexual health success
	"The reality is that they [HIV patients] present somewhere else [away from hospitals]. And I think the place they present is either their GP or more likely community pharmacy. There's a great responsibility for community pharmacy and it's something we should support," Dr Pao said.

"If I was a community pharmacist standing behind my counter talking to someone who I knew was HIV positive... I would want to know, first of all, what does he perceive are his needs for this medication? And, on the other hand, what are his concerns about the side effects? What are his concerns about the medication not working?" he said.

Communication between pharmacists and these patients was especially important because of the risk that they could transmit the disease to others in the community, Dr Pao added.  

"It's not just for the individual health, there's a huge public health implication. One HIV transmission is one HIV transmission too many," he said.

Pharmacist Jignesh Patel, who won a C+D award for his HIV-testing pilot scheme at Ropharm pharmacy in Plaistow, agreed that pharmacies were an ideal point of contact for HIV patients.

"When we did the HIV pilot, we actually had a lot more people who were willing to come to pharmacies because we're more accessible. We're totally confidential so they're willing to open up and talk to us," he told C+D.

But he warned that pharmacists were unlikely to take on a greater role in HIV care unless they received additional NHS funding.

"HIV isn't a very simple subject like diabetes or asthma, because your knowledge must be quite thorough and you have to be up to date with all the treatments. So unless there's additional funding that the Department of Health is willing to leave, not many pharmacists will take the service on board," he said.