Thank you to our Team GHT Runners!
posted: 20/05/2011
George House Trust would like to say a HUGE thank you to all those who ran in Team GHT last Sunday, 15th May.
Our Team braved the cold and the rain to run and raise vital funds to support people living with HIV in the North West.
Big thanks also go to Christian from Active Health for providing some much needed free sports massage before and after the race and to the Cooperative, Crunch Bar and Durex for sponsoring our running vests. Also to our team of supporters who provided some fantastic encouragement along the route!
There's still time to sponsor our runners. You can find them at: http://www.justgiving.com/ght
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Have Your Say - Manchester Cuts
posted: 17/05/2011
People living in Manchester are asked for their views on the future of adult social care services in the city. The council has to save £109m this year, rising to £170m next – 25% of its whole budget.
The council’s plans for making cuts in adult social care are now available and there are 24 local events in May and June where council staff can explain the proposals, answer questions and help fill in questionnaires.
There are four main things the city council is asking residents about
- Supporting people services
- Cuts and changes in voluntary and community sector
- Changes to social care services
- Charges for social care services.
The city plans to change the way it allocates money to the voluntary sector and for supporting people, by assessing the quality and cost of services, and make more use of Telecare and equipment, and change the way it allocates money.
Manchester also proposes to change its charges for social care, for example, by ending its maximum charge so people who can pay more will pay the full cost, whatever that is.
How to have your say
You can read the proposals and then answer questions online, or you can visit one of the 24 events being held over the next three weeks.
Please take part
The more people with HIV living in Manchester who take part the better.
The main proposals and consultation for people with HIV is here. The last public event where you can ask questions is on Friday 3 June and you must send any comments in on this one by Wednesday 6 July.
Some of the documents are PowerPoint presentations that show you what they propose and you will need a computer programme to see this. Here is a link to the free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer for you to download and install if you need this.
Councillor Glynn Evans, executive member for adults services at Manchester City Council said: "Manchester looks after a large number of vulnerable and elderly people who need support and care, and we remain committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible services, despite the very challenging circumstances.
"These proposals will affect people’s lives, so it is vitally important that all carers, residents and people who use our services themselves, tell us what they think and have their say.
"The council has to make significant savings to balance our smaller budget and we have seen a massive reduction in our budgets like supporting people. We believe these proposals are the fairest we could draw up in these very difficult times, but this is an open and genuine consultation process and all views and ideas will be considered."
Events across the city now
The adult social care consultation events began on 9 May and the last is on Friday 3 June.
Deadline for public comments varies with each of the consultations, two are on 14 June, another is 6 July, the last is on 8 August:
Social Care Consultations or phone the Contact Service on 0161 234 5001.
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Last chance for Manchester Run places!
posted: 26/04/2011
George House Trust still has a few places left in Team GHT in this year’s Great Manchester Run.
We have a great support package available, including a free GHT running vest, after run massage and a post run party at Taurus.
Please email: laura@ght.org.uk as soon as possible if you would like to snap up one of our final places.
Places cost £36 (this is the registration charge from Bupa). If you would like to purchase one of our places, but don’t want to fundraise for us this year, please also get in touch.
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Hospital Complaints and North Manchester
posted: 21/04/2011
Channel 4 TV’s Dispatches programme last week reported long waits and poor care of some people using North Manchester General Hospital’s Accident & Emergency and the associated Medical Assessment wards.
The TV undercover investigation did not look into HIV treatment and care at the hospital, which is a regional centre of HIV care excellence.
The Care Quality Commission has now been asked to investigate the problems in Accident and Emergency and Medical Assessment Unit care. The local NHS watchdog, Manchester LINks say “We would encourage the public to contact their local LINks at any time if they have a concern or to report such instances as seen on the Channel 4 programme last night without delay. Your local LINks will be able to investigate with the help of the Care Quality Commission and local Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees. Your identity will always be protected and all information you provide treated confidentially when going through LINks.”
If you have any experiences you would like to tell Manchester LINks about regarding North Manchester General Hospital or any other Manchester Hospital, please contact Danny on 0161 874 2189 or email him.
Making complaints about the NHS, other hospitals and local social care
Each district has its own NHS LINk watchdog – Find your local LINk here
Manchester LINk
BHA, Democracy House
609/609A Stretford Road
Old Trafford, Manchester
M16 0QA
Contact the Manchester LINk team
Anthony Doggett - LINk Administrator 0161 874 2187
Naheed Akhtar - LINk Manager 0161 874 2188; Mobile:07855 233 462
Danny Gough - Community Engagement Officer 0161 874 2189
Valeska Matziol - Community Engagement Officer 0161 874 2190
Lydia Hurford Cato - Community Engagement Officer 0161 874 2191
email: manchesterlink@theBHA.org.uk
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Speak at Positive Prevention Conference?
posted: 12/04/2011
George House Trust, the Manchester based HIV support organisation, runs a Positive Prevention project, funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation. We are holding a free national conference in Manchester on 1st July for staff and organisations doing positive prevention work, to share best practice, and to consider developing minimum standards for Positive Prevention work.
Speakers Wanted
We are inviting people who would like to speak at this conference about their experience in Positive Prevention work to contact us.
Positive Prevention means working to support people living with HIV, where one of the benefits is reducing onward HIV transmission. Positive Prevention at George House Trust includes
- one to one support
- group "peer support" spaces
- courses for people newly diagnosed with HIV and
- reflective residential weekends for people diagnosed with HIV for longer than 12 months.
Most of our weekends and courses have been for gay and bi men, and we have run others for people living with HIV.
Call for speakers
If you
- Are working in an organisation doing ‘positive prevention’ work with people living with HIV, or
- Want to share the positive prevention work you are doing, or
- Have any data from positive prevention work which shows changes in behaviour or knowledge (we want the conference to hear evidence both of what works, and what doesn’t seem to work), or
- Want to highlight aspects of positive prevention work, or
- Are a person with HIV who has taken part in a Positive Prevention project, or
- Want to suggest a speaker with relevant knowledge or experience of Positive Prevention
we want to hear from you.
Presentations can be in any format and would be for the whole conference, of about 35 people.
Please Contact Chris
If you are interested in making a presentation, please email Chris Morley with your proposal by Monday 23rd May .
Interested in attending?
This conference is only for people and organisations already doing Positive Prevention. If you would like to come as a delegate to the Positive Prevention conference, please contact Chris.
What some people with HIV have said about our residential weekends
- The weekend really helped me to identify where I am now - and to look clearly at what I need for the future
- I learned so much from the other men and really now feel focussed on making positive changes
- It helped me connect, and gave me support and direction
- The weekend has given me a real boost and I feel now like I can face some of my issues in a constructive way and really move forward
- Thanks for a great weekend which has helped me think about how I deal with some of my fears and anxieties about living with HIV
- The weekend gave me a sense of space and safety to be able to talk more confidently about living with HIV now and in the future.
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