HIV (Paediatric HIV)

There are a small number of children in East Anglia who are HIV positive. There are also a steady number of children requiring testing for HIV within the region. This service is provided by Dr Caroline Kavanagh, one of the paediatricians within the department. She counsels parents and older children before HIV testing, she organises testing and then discusses the results with the family afterwards.Dr Kavanagh regularly reviews HIV positive children at the Jenny Lind Outpatient department and will arrange admission to Buxton Ward if necessary.

All of the HIV positive children have open access to the Children’s Assessment Unit which enables them to be seen quickly if they are unwell and means that they don’t have to wait to be seen in the A&E department. She has arranged shared-care with the specialist teams in either St Mary’s Hospital or Great Ormond Street Hospital in London where the children attend for an annual review.

She meets regularly with the adult HIV team in the hospital and discusses children of HIV positive parents who need to be tested. They also discuss teenagers and organise sessions for teenagers with the sexual health advisers.

As teenagers with HIV approach the age of transition to adult care they are seen jointly by Dr Kavanagh and the adult HIV team to ease the transfer to adult care.