If we look at the history of NHS medicine over the last 20 years, one of the conditions that has seen the most development has been the treatment of people with HIV. Much of this capacity to save and improve lives has been brought about by important developments in drug treatment, but as important has been the improvement of treatment and self management patterns that are, for patients with HIV, now much more inclusive.

In fact this should be a case study in how the NHS has learnt much, much better treatment patterns through the very direct involvement of patients and their representative groups.