Social Work Department of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh: HIV/AIDS
Scope and Contents
Edinburgh-specific social work related AIDS papers 1985-1993; non-Edinburgh-specific social work related AIDS papers 1984-1997
Dates
- Creation: 1984-1997
Language of Materials
English.
Conditions Governing Access
Public access to these records is governed by UK data protection legislation, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and the latest version of the Scottish Government Records Management: Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland). Whilst some records may be accessed freely by researchers, the aforementioned legislation and guidelines mean that records conveying sensitive information on named individuals may be closed to the public for a set time.
Where health records relate to named deceased adults, they will be open 75 years after the latest date referenced, on the next 1 January. Case records of individuals below 18 years of age or adults not proven to be deceased will be open 100 years after the latest date recorded, on the next 1 January. Further information on legislation and guidelines covering medical records can be found here: https://bit.ly/2CXB4V8.
LHSA encourages the use of these records for legitimate clinical, historical and genealogical research purposes, and records that are designated as closed can be consulted by legitimate researchers if certain conditions are met. Please contact the LHSA Archivist for more details regarding procedures on how you can apply for permission to view closed records. Telephone us on: 0131 650 3392 or email us at lhsa@ed.ac.uk.
Biographical / Historical
HIV was first introduced into Edinburgh in 1983 and spread rapidly as a result of injection drug users who habitually shared equipment. By 1989 over 1000 HIV infected users had been identified in Edinburgh out of a total of 1700 in Scotland, representing three to four times the worst infection rate measured in England. The epidemic was detected within two years and , as a result, an opportunity arose to develop HIV services prior to the development of HIV-related ill-health/AIDS. A range of local National Health Service, municipal and voluntary institutions and organisations rapidly became involved. These papers were collected by a practising social worker based at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Extent
1 box
Arrangement
Chronological within record class
Other Finding Aids
Manual item-level descriptive list available
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Geraldine Brown, Social Work Department, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, September 1999
Accruals
No further accessions are expected
- Title
- Social Work Department of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh: HIV/AIDS
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Lothian Health Services Archive Repository
Centre for Research Collections
Edinburgh University Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44 (0)131 650 3392
lhsa@ed.ac.uk