Professionals for HIV Teens to Adults

posted: 21/01/2011

Professionals in the North of England interested in supporting young people with HIV to make the change from childrens to adult services, are invited to regional meetings.

Growing numbers of HIV teens to adults

Many of the children now growing up with HIV are becoming adults and will need to switch to services for adults. Children's and adults' services staff need to think, plan and work together, for a smooth transition between children’s and adult HIV and other services.

Invitation to regional focus group

The Children and Young People HIV Network has arranged focus groups for professionals in the North of England, (and meetings for other regions) to make a start on developing age transition services locally.

The HIV Network invites all children's and adults' professionals (health sector, social care, and community sector) who are, or will, deliver services to 10 – 24 year old young people living with HIV.

This is part of a three-year project to improve the transition of young people living with HIV from children's to adults' services. The project aims to develop capacity by improving partnership working and enabling quality service development, both clinical and social care.

These focus groups will

• find out any current local arrangements for young people living with HIV making the transition from children's to adults' services
• explore the successes and challenges of transition, in different areas, with different numbers of young people, and identify needs
• provide a networking and discussion opportunity for professionals interested in better transitions.

Transitions won't wait

Despite the current upheavals in health, community and social care, young people’s needs for a better transition will not wait. Each area’s professionals need to become involved.

This networking and sharing opportunity will provide professionals with some useful resources on HIV and transition, lunch, and even travel expenses help for some.
 

Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Birmingham

• For Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire – Manchester, 15 March, 14.00-16.30
• For North, West & South Yorkshire, East Riding, and Lincolnshire – Sheffield, 10 March, 13.30-16.00
• For Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland – Newcastle, 2 March, 10.00-12.30
• For West Midlands, and Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire – Birmingham, 15 March, 12.00-14.30.

Join the group where you would have the most service links. No transition arrangements yet? All the better if you attend.

People working with affected families of HIV-positive adolescents are also welcome, although the focus will be on the transition needs of the HIV+ young people.

Book a place
Please email the Children and Young People HIV Network, telling them which one you would like to attend. All places must be booked in advance so they can book suitable accommodation and cater effectively for all. Live elsewhere? - email the Network for details of meetings in other regions

Quangos and HIV

posted: 15/10/2010

The government promised a bonfire of the quangos, but it seems that beneath the surface not a lot will change for HIV. Two HIV advisory groups are scrapped, the Health Protection Agency will go, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be reformed, the Cabinet Office said.
 

Not a lot will change with the scrapping of the two HIV advisory groups. They don’t really disappear at all. One will be reincarnated as a Department of Health / Public Health Service committee of experts, and the other will be reborn as a stakeholder advisory group. Will anyone be able to tell the difference – we don’t think so.

The Health Protection Agency will be abolished and its work transferred to the proposed Public Health Service. Details have not been published.

The EHRC will be reformed but there are no details yet. An EHRC spokeswoman said that the situation was currently "largely speculative" and any proposed changes would be subject to wider consultation. The government is understood to be keen to "streamline" the commission and part of its work may be incorporated into the Government Equalities Office. A Government Equalities Office spokesman said the commission's work was currently being assessed with decisions to be made later in the year.
 

List of Quango changes

Positive Steps Bury

posted: 09/08/2010

Andrew, a gay man living in the Bury area, is setting up a social and support group for HIV positive gay men living around the whole of the north side of Manchester. Are you interested?
 

He hopes the group will be a chance to socialise and get to know other positive gay men, share information, advice and support, feel less isolated and share ideas on how to challenge stigma locally.
 

Interested men who would like to meet in Bury to plan future events, or who just want to find out about what’s arranged, should contact Andrew by email, or mobile 078 95194 575, or leave a message on the website contact page
 

Positive Steps Bury aims to develop and provide activities and services for gay men living with HIV in Northern Greater Manchester – the Bury, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, and Wigan districts and nearby parts of Lancashire.
 

The plan is for a social drop in - an opportunity to share experiences, views and ideas as well as access information and advice, organising activities together - visiting places of interest, walking, cycling, away weekends and other activities, and going to social events such as theatre, drinks, meals out, bingo, etc.
 

Positive Steps Bury
 

Lancaster HIV Support

posted: 02/02/2010

Lancaster has a monthly HIV support group meeting in the town centre once a month on Thursday evenings. It's a place for social contact, information and advice, and sharing your experiences with others.

The meeting dates and times for 2010 are now all arranged. The North Lancashire HIV+ Social Support Group meets every second Thursday of the month from 7pm to 9pm.

Every 2nd Thursday each month, at 7 - 9pm 

The dates for 2010 are

• Thursday 11 February
• Thursday 11 March
• Thursday 8 April
• Thursday 13 May
• Thursday 10 June
• Thursday 8 July
• Thursday 12 August
• Thursday 9 September
• Thursday 14 October
• Thursday 11 November
• Thursday 9 December 2010. 

The group is open to everyone living with HIV regardless of age, gender, sexuality, race or nationality.

To find out more about the group and where it meets in central Lancaster, please call

• Sue 07825 207 024
• Peter 07855 342 732
   
• or email

Living Proof Weekends 2010

posted: 20/01/2010

Living Proof Weekends are run by National Long Term Survivors Group (nltsg), for people who have been diagnosed with HIV for at least five years. The weekends normally cost £170 but some free places are available – for anyone living in the Stockport Council area, and the Elton John Aids Foundation helps other people on low incomes. Other Councils may also be willing to fund places from their AIDS Support Grant budget.
 

NLTSG organises four “Living Proof” weekend retreats each year in rural Staffordshire – which is around 50 miles south of Manchester.

The weekends provide a safe environment for people to come together to benefit from peer support, share experiences and discuss issues that are affecting them. There are discussions and workshops which people at the weekends decide what to discuss, and these are then facilitated by professionals.
Complementary therapists offer a wide range of treatments throughout the weekend and usually one of the facilitators is a trained counsellor. All activities are optional.
 

The weekends run from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, with members arriving from 3.30pm on Friday. They expect everyone to be present by 5:45pm for the opening circle.
 

Living Proof Weekends in 2010

• 26 – 28 March
• 9 – 11 July
• 24 – 26 September
• 17 – 19 December

Download the details here
 

Elton John funding details here
 

Stockport residents: for attendance fee and travel costs all you need to do is contact the service - client contact number 0161 474 3636