‘This recognition is fantastic’
A Manchester-based charity has won a top UK health award for their work supporting people living with HIV across the city-borough.
Founded in 1985 as the Manchester AIDS Line, George House Trust has become a well-regarded organisation in terms of their work helping people with HIV lead healthy lives through support services and counselling. It also works to reduce stigma and public perceptions through community engagement.
It has been announced today (March 12) that the charity has been chosen as one of ten winners of the 2025 GSK IMPACT Awards. Now in its 28th year, the awards are delivered in partnership with leading health and care charity The King’s Fund.
The awards are regarded as a ‘mark of excellence’ within the charity health sector and recognise the work that organisations are doing to improve people’s health and wellbeing in the UK.
Judges for the awards were said to have been struck by George House Trust’s collaborations with local NHS organisations and other charities as well as for its ‘Passionate about Sexual Health’ partnership with BHA for Equality and the LGBT Foundation that is recognised as a key part of Greater Manchester’s plan to tackle HIV. Thanks to its success, the programme has also recently been extended to Liverpool.
The charity, which co-organises the candlelight vigil at Manchester Pride each year, has also been instrumental in helping The HIV Action Plan in England continue on its way to its target of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030. In Greater Manchester, there were over 6,000 people living with HIV in 2022, but around 5% were unaware of their status and there are rising numbers of late diagnosis.
Lisa Weaks, Senior Associate at The King’s Fund, said: ‘George House Trust is a well-established and valued charity in its community. It works to ensure that those with HIV can live well and access support services tailored to their individual needs, while keeping people’s real-life experiences at its heart.
“Working together with NHS organisations and other charities, the charity also plays an incredible role in breaking down barriers around HIV stigma.”
As an award winner, George House Trust will now receive £40,000 in unrestricted funding. The charity’s leaders will also be invited to take part in a highly sought-after leadership development programme provided by The King’s Fund. Speaking about the recognition, Darren Knight, Chief Executive of George House Trust, said: ‘I’m absolutely delighted that in our 40th year, we’re one of the GSK Impact Award winners.
“Every day when I walk into the office, I see the passion, pride and professionalism that our staff and volunteers have in their work. The lived experience that’s at the heart of all that we do means that we deliver person-centred support that makes a difference.
“This recognition is fantastic and the investment in our activity and our leadership will mean that we continue to evolve, develop and expand our offer to better meet the needs of, and more importantly, have a real and tangible impact for, people living with HIV.”
Paul Fairweather, a prominent LGBTQ+ and HIV activist, recently spoke to the M.E.N about his work helping to get the Manchester AIDS Line, which changed its name to George House Trust in 1990, underway in the city. Paul was one of the six people who founded the organisation, which was one of only a handful of such services across the entire country at the time.
“In those early days, it was very unclear how HIV was transmitted,” Paul explained. “There was quite a lot of ignorance and fear, and a lot of people wrongly thought in the mid-80s that it only affected gay men.”
Speaking of the work the charity does now, he added: ““We do a lot of work with young people in school. They’re much more aware of the LGBTQ+ community and HIV to the point that sometimes they know more than their parents or grandparents do.
“I still think we need to raise more general awareness around the messaging of U=U, which means that anybody on effective HIV treatment with an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV on. There are also people out there who might be benefitting from getting PrEP, which reduces the risk of getting HIV, who aren’t aware of it.”