About Waverley Care

Waverley Care offers the following services in Edinburgh:

Waverley Care Milestone - an eight-bedded residential care unit offering periods of respite care;

Waverley Care Solas -  this support and information centre offers a range of services including a café, counselling service, support groups, arts programme and a childcare project which provides a programme of after-school clubs and holiday activities to children who are living in families where either or both parents have HIV;

Waverley Care Day Service - operating at Solas, Milestone and in the community, providing people with recreational activity and skills-based workshops;

Waverley Care Buddy Service - providing one-to-one support to people at home.

All of these projects offer a lifeline of support in what can often be a lonely and isolated world. 

The stigma which still surrounds an HIV diagnosis means that many service users are unable to confide in even their friends or neighbours for fear of victimisation or bullying. Waverley Care plays a key role in enabling people to meet others in similar situations, to share their burdens and to grow in self-confidence and self-esteem.

Our history

Waverley Care was established in 1989 in response the high HIV infection rate in Edinburgh during the 1980s. It opened two projects in 1991 – Milestone House AIDS Hospice and the Solas Support and Information Centre.

Over the years, Waverley Care has responded to the changing needs of those who are living with HIV or AIDS. In 2001, services were restructured in response to the welcome reduction in the death rate and the growing number of people who are living with what is now a chronic, long-term illness. 

Milestone now operates as Scotland’s only residential respite care unit and a day service provides ongoing support to assist people to cope in a community setting. The Solas Centre continues to provide a range of support services to people with HIV and to their families, carers and children.