About us
Plushealth was set up by Chris Williams in the early part of 2018 to address an unmet need to support people living with HIV regardless of where they lived in the UK. The solution was to work entirely online, an area Chris had several years of previous experience to draw upon.
Our website went live in July 2018 and marked the formal launch of Plushealth as a community project supporting people living with or affected by HIV. Chris chose 19th July 2018 for the launch of this new service as it marked a decade since his HIV diagnosis in 2008. It was a milestone to be celebrated and an opportunity for him to deliver his vision of empowering others to seek the best treatment, care and support to enable them to live well with HIV and enjoy life!
In January 2020 Plushealth were given the opportunity to work in partnership with 2 other charities as part of the Fast-Track Cities programme for London. The aim of Fast-Track Cities is to get to zero new cases of HIV and ending HIV related stigma in the capital by 2030.
The Plushealth Steering Group was also established in January 2020, to oversee the development of the organisation with the aim of gaining charitable status. Chris was appointed as Service Lead in July 2021 to manage the Fast-Track Cities programme.
Plushealth became a registered charity in September 2020 with members of the Steering Group forming our first Board of Trustees with Vicky Lomas becoming our first Chair. You can view our constitution document HERE and our Annual Accounts Trustees report HERE
In January 2021 we appointed 3 new trustees to strengthen the range of expertise as we recognise having a strong Board is vital for a fledgling charity. We continue to steadily increase our team of volunteers as demand for our services continue to grow.
We have gained a small group of loyal supporters who support our work through individual donations which has kept Plushealth going since 2018. Our National peer support service remains unfunded but through their generosity we can continue to provide this valuable service free of charge and will always strive to do so.
