Liz helps launch HIV nursing publication

A clinical services manager at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust has played a key role in the launch of a new UK publication about HIV nursing. 

Liz Foote (pictured), who leads the Trust’s Community HIV Specialist Service, sits on the editorial board of National HIV Nursing Journal and wrote its first edition’s editorial. 

The clinician, who has worked in HIV for almost three decades, helped organise the publication’s launch in her role as Chair of the National HIV Nurses Association (NHIVNA). 

She and senior colleagues from NHIVNA joined forces with the British Journal of Nursing (BJN) which agreed to publish National HIV Nursing Journal as a supplement in January and June each year. 

“It was an absolute honour and privilege to write the first editorial,” said Liz. “I felt quite emotional as I reflected on the first patient with HIV that I looked after back in 1993, and then on my own 28-year journey in HIV. 

“As Chair of NHIVNA and someone who has worked in the HIV field as a specialist nurse since 1996, I feel passionate about HIV awareness and education,” Liz explained. 

“As our patients are ageing with HIV, we will rely more and more on other specialist health services and primary care to look after them. 

“It is vital and crucial that we educate as many healthcare professionals as possible. 

“This HIV supplement in the BJN allows us to reach a wide audience of healthcare professionals from a wide range of specialities, and to showcase the high-quality care being delivered in HIV.” 

In her editorial, Liz reflects on the advances in HIV treatment but notes that “we still have a long way to go at diagnosing all those with HIV and managing the small but significant number of patients struggling to adhere to treatment”. 

Liz, who also manages the Trust’s Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Specialist Service and Carers Health Team, is keen to encourage her specialist nurses and allied health professionals to write articles for future editions of the journal.