The National HIV Story Trust was proud to take part in this year’s Royal College of Nursing Congress in Liverpool, collaborating with the RCN’s History of Nursing Forum, Fellows Co-ordinating Committee, and RCN Archive and Museum to present The HIV Story: Remembering the HIV/AIDS Pandemic.
The session brought the NHST’s work to one of the most important annual gatherings in UK nursing, placing the lived history of the HIV and AIDS pandemic of the 1980s and 90s at the heart of a professional conversation about care, memory, and the future.
The presentation drew on firsthand oral history interviews collected from nurses and other healthcare professionals who cared for people affected by HIV and AIDS during the most acute years of the crisis – work that began in 2025 as an ongoing, collaborative project led by members of the RCN’s History of Nursing Forum. A selection of those testimonies was shared with the audience, illustrating the stigma and fear of the early epidemic alongside the extraordinary compassion and dedication of those on the frontlines of care – and, ultimately, the hope that defines the present day.
The session reflected a core belief at the heart of the NHST’s HIVstory project: that the true history of the AIDS pandemic must not be forgotten, and that the nurses, carers, and medical professionals who lived through it deserve to have their stories heard and preserved.
The event was open to all RCN Congress delegates – from experienced sexual health and public health practitioners to early career nurses and support workers – reflecting the breadth of relevance this history holds across the nursing profession.