Celebrating 35 years of Kobler, HIV Care and Innovation
12 September 2023
We are marking 35 years of Kobler by taking a look at its rich history in HIV care and innovation.
The Kobler Centre is based within the St Stephens Centre on Fulham Road and 35 years later is the largest specialist HIV Unit in Europe, seeing approximately 5000 patients. It is part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which has seven different HIV and sexual health clinics across London and cares for more than 14,000 patients living with HIV.
The Kobler Centre has a worldwide reputation as a centre of excellence in the care of people living with HIV and a wide range of associated clinical research on ageing, comorbidities and coinfections. For instance, the Gazzard Day Unit (GDU) provides joint care with oncology, day case treatments and rapid review to those who are acutely unwell and there is a dedicated ward, Ron Johnson, for those requiring admission. The GDU is also the dedicated area for chemotherapy treatments.
The Gazzard Day Unit is named after internationally renowned HIV expert Professor Brian Gazzard who worked as a Gastroenterologist and General Physician at the Trust. Not only was he instrumental in establishing the HIV unit in 1987 but he also saw one of the first cases of HIV disease in Europe in 1981. In 2011 Brian was awarded a CBE for services in healthcare.
Today, our HIV team are still leading the way in HIV care and innovation with their pioneering work in digital solutions. First introduced as a pilot in Kobler clinic in 2018, Klick is a pathway of care for people living with HIV based around an app which allows patients to book and reschedule appointments remotely as well as request medication and receive messages from healthcare professionals. To date, 5,200 patients from our Kobler and Dean Street clinics have registered for Klick, and it has garnered over 2,000 monthly app users.