Back in 2018, Sheila Morris, the CIRG research coordinator, took part in a series of recordings for “The AIDS Era; an oral history of UK health care workers”. The recordings are archived in the British Library Sound Archive, accessible to the public and now forms part of the sixty-two recordings of nurses, doctors and allied health workers, who were involved in HIV patient care in the UK during the 15-year period 1983-1998 until the emergence of HAART.

The project team are now creating a book based on these recordings, focussing on the nurses’ accounts. It is extraordinary how little has been written about the nurses’ experiences during the AIDS Era in the UK and throughout the world, and this book should provide a great new resource.

The book will begin with short introductions of the 27 nurses who are featured within the book. Thematic chapters will be presented using edited extracts from the nurses’ interviews, to highlight the range and diversity of nurses’ experiences from across the country and within different specialties. This book is not about the history of HIV but about how it was experienced by nurses.  There will be textual narrative exploring the themes that nurses discuss during their interviews but the ‘voices’ of the nurses will stand out.

You can read more about this amazing project, and keep up to date with the latest developments, here.