§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the average cost to the NHS of medical treatment and nursing care for each AIDS patient.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)AIDS presents not as a progressive degenerative disease but as a series of acute episodes of illness with a return to a 25WA comparatively healthy life in between. In addition people with AIDS may suffer from some cancers and a range of other diseases. This makes the calculation of average case costs complex, since patients will suffer different combinations of illness. Treatments, disease progression and survival times from diagnosis will therefore vary.
26WAHowever, based on average treatment costs and survival times, we estimate that each case of HIV infection will cost a minimum of £75,000. This underlines, in resource terms, the importance of our HIV prevention strategy.