DOC SAID IT'S TOO DEAR TO TREAT ME BECAUSE I'M HIV..I FELT SO FILTHY AND UPSET; Tony, 29, blasts hospital for 'inhumane treatment'.

Byline: JILLY BEATTIE

A MAN with HIV who was refused vital medical treatment was told the equipment was too expensive to be used on him.

Tony Bell, 29, from Belfast, was already gowned and prepared for the procedure at Craigavon Area Hospital when it was suddenly cancelled.

He was advised he could not have the treatment and told the price of the equipment.

The former hotel worker was later subjected to a different procedure using cheaper, less advanced equipment leaving him in pain and feeling violated.

The appalling treatment broke basic rules of patient care within the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, leaving Tony battling feelings of degradation.

Tony told the Daily Mirror: "I was already worried and frightened because I'd been so unwell.

"I needed a colonoscopy because I was in a lot of pain and was dreading it but it had to be done in order to find out what was causing the pain and make it better.

"I'd travelled to the hospital on my own so I didn't even have anyone with me.

"Lying on a trolley waiting I felt very vulnerable and nervous.

"I'd had the procedure explained to me and was already in a hospital gown waiting for the doctor.

"Then a member of the medical staff just casually walked in and told me it was cancelled.

"I was told the equipment needed was very expensive at pounds 3,000 and it wasn't suitable because I was HIV-positive.

"I was so shocked I didn't know what to say. I remember looking at him and wondering what to do.

"I knew it was wrong, I knew I was being treated differently.

"But I was so upset I couldn't say anything. Then I was told I would be given an examination using cheaper equipment.

"It was so degrading. I felt filthy, upset, uncared for and like I wasn't good enough to get the same treatment as anyone else." Horrified by his ordeal Tony wrote a letter of complaint to the hospital and received a reply from the Director of Acute Services Jim McCall.

Tony said: "I complained about how I'd been treated and how it made me feel.

"I explained it was impossible to understand why there are two grades of sterilisation and hygiene in any hospital in Northern Ireland. It seemed ridiculous.

"Surely if equipment is sterilised then it's sterile. It either is or it isn't, there can be no in between.

"I understand the concerns about passing on infections especially ones like HIV, but that doesn't mean someone like me should be given lesser treatment.

"I believe there are a lot of people out there who have no idea they have HIV and they have to be treated in hospitals with all sorts of equipment anyway.

"I got a letter of apology from the hospital and an acknowledgement that the treatment I'd received was inappropriate.

"But by that stage I was totally incensed by how I'd been made to feel and I decided I wanted to make sure other people in similar situations were not treated like second-class citizens."

Tony, who suffers severe medical side effects and depression as a result of being HIV-positive, contacted the Equality Commission for help.

He explained: "It's been a long, hard slog over the last two years because my health has not been good but the team at the Equality Commission was brilliant.

"They helped me without judging me and managed to get the hospital Trust to review its practices and procedures." Tony contracted HIV during unprotected sex during a one-night-stand in December 2005, while on a break home from his work in Scotland.

However, by the second week of January he was so ill he could barely walk.

His body was covered in blotches and welts and his temperature was uncontrollable.

Doctors in Scotland thought he had syphilis but said there was a strong possibility he was HIV-positive.

Tony explained: "I blanked out the fear because I was too ill to deal with it. When the results came back to say it was HIV I just felt numb.

"The last two years have been impossibly difficult. But now I've come to terms with being HIV-positive.

"However, I can't get my head around the fact some people treat me like dirt when they find out.

"In Craigavon Area Hospital the treatment I received was a clear message I was less valuable than other patients. The only thing that mattered was my HIV status.

"But I'm still human, I'm still here and part of this world and I should be treated like everyone else.

"Hospitals have a duty of care to their patients no matter how ill they are or what sort of condition they have.

A Southern Health and Social Care Trust spokesman said: "The Trust deeply regrets the distress and upset caused to Mr Bell when he was wrongly refused treatment at Craigavon Area Hospital.

"We have accepted that Mr Bell should have received his treatment without delay and have apologised to him for not providing the high standard of care every patient has the right to expect.

"We are working with the Equality Commission to review our policies and have reiterated to our staff their responsibility to treat all patients equally."

CAPTION(S):

Tony Bell yesterday calls for all patients to be treated the same in hospitals EQUALITY CAMPAIGN