§ Miss LestorTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines have been issued to establishments under his control about the admission of children who are HIV positive.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe Department manages two youth treatment centres which look after adolescent boys and girls. Testing for HIV antibodies is not carried out routinely.
The centres have been advised that a young person infected with HIV antibodies could be managed satisfactorily and in the normal way until or unless the need for specialised medical treatment or nursing care became necessary. They have been further advised that the best protection for people working and living there is to adhere scrupulously to sensible and basic standards of hygiene, to ensure the close supervision of the young residents and to provide them with planned sex education curricula within their broader health education. In addition, the centres have been asked to provide staff training directed towards the understanding of infections such as AIDS and hepatitis B and their prevention.