§ Mr. Keith HillTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provisions are made to monitor routinely the CD4 cell counts of identified HIV-infected prisoners in Great Britain.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Keith Hill, dated 23 November 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the monitoring of CD4 cell counts.Routine clinical and laboratory monitoring, including CD4 cell counts, is accepted practice in the clinical and medical care of HIV infected individuals in the community.The Prison Service seeks to provide the same level of care and prison medical officers have been advised that such monitoring should form part of routine medical supervision of HIV-infected patients in prison. These guidelines have been issued on the manual 'HIV and AIDS a multi-disciplinary approach in the prison environment' which is available in all Prison Service establishments and to health care centres.