Time to read
Bringing people together to share learning
Re-engaging people back into HIV care is rightfully being put more into the spotlight as a central pillar of action plans, strategies, and campaigning. With estimates of thousands of people out of HIV care across the UK, the importance of connecting with individuals and supporting them back into treatment is life-saving and life-changing work.
Re-engagement is not a one-size-fits-all approach. What works in one area may not work in another, and the needs of people who have disengaged from care can differ considerably. Partnerships between clinical teams and voluntary sector partners are fundamental, and the expertise, insight, and commitment shown by people carrying out this work is truly special.
We want people undertaking work on re-engagement to have the support they need and the spaces to learn from others. Re-engagement is not a one-size-fits-all approach. What works in one area may not work in another, and the needs of people who have disengaged from care can differ considerably. But by bringing people together to jointly looking at challenges and problems, identify resources that can be co-created, and share solutions and best practice we hope that programmes across the UK can benefit and support more people back into HIV treatment.
That’s why we have established a Community of Practice on HIV re-engagement and retention in care. The Community of Practice brings together people from across clinical, community and academic settings, including those leading and delivering re-engagement programmes. Its purpose is to enable learning to be shared, to fill gaps where they are identified, and work out together what people need (and deliver it!).
Identifying priorities – what we have heard and will be working on
In October we had a kick off meeting with around 25 people all involved in HIV re-engagement to share ideas and priorities for what this group can do. What really shone through was the wealth of expertise from the group, and the potential for what could be done by pooling that insight and collectively identifying things that can benefit all.
So what did people say was needed and how can a Community of Practice help? These are some of the main ideas the group identified:
- A strong desire for a mapping exercise to understand different models for re-engagement including resources and gaps in provision
- The Community of Practice to act as facilitator of a wider network e.g. buddy systems between programme leads and knowledge sharing of what’s working and challenges
- Supporting the case for funding re-engagement programmes, particularly looking at across the whole of the UK, and rural areas
- Proactively engaging other healthcare professionals outside of HIV care, and wider charity sector organisations (such as homelessness charities) to raise awareness of and links to re-engagement support
- Explore standardisation of data collection, definitions and shared aims around re-engagement to steer policy effectively
- Spotlight sessions, action learning sets and tailored resources for key demographics (young people, sex workers), on cross-cutting issues (such as neurodivergence) or with key roles and functions (HR, finance, disciplines, commissioners, data governance and IT leads)
Get involved
As we develop this Community of Practice over the next year, we want as many people to be involved as possible. We will be having more meetings, webinar-type sessions, and hopefully some sessions in person too. If you are involved in re-engagement work, then we would love for you to be involved, in shaping the work, being part of discussions, and informing resources. Your insight is vital to ensuring the Community of Practice reflects the realities of delivering re-engagement across different settings and helps bring together the knowledge and experience already within the sector.
Please email [email protected] if you would like to find out more or get involved.