Insight

News About Us - Positive Speakers & Volunteers Survey

posted: 19/05/2008

Awareness Raising and Stigma Challenging with Positive Speakers

A major awareness-raising training and information programme, using trained speakers who are living with HIV, is about to be launched by George House Trust.

Schools, colleges, universities, voluntary organisations and employers are among the targets for this mind-changing work. One in three people living with HIV have experienced HIV-related discrimination at some time in their lives and the Positive Speakers Programme forms part of our work to challenge HIV-related stigma.

Funding comes from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and we are already recruiting the project co-ordinator, who will develop a comprehensive training and support programme for the Positive Speakers and reach out into the community.

If you are living with HIV and are interested in becoming a Positive Speaker, please contact Laura on 0161 274 4499 or email: laura@ght.org.uk


Plugged by 98% of Volunteers
Findings from our recent survey of volunteers were overwhelmingly positive, with 98% of volunteers indicating that they would recommend volunteering at George House Trust to others and over 85% reporting being satisfied with the induction, training and support they receive.

Volunteers also reported personal development, better contacts and networks, accepting and understanding others’ cultures and communities and an ability to challenge stigma about HIV. 58% of respondents said that volunteering had increased their skills and over a third said it had increased their ability to get paid work. Volunteers value the support and sense of belonging at George House Trust, the opportunity to give something back and the training and information they receive about HIV.

Findings will feed volunteer development at George House Trust over the next year including:
• more training and skills events
• improvements to the volunteering part of the website
• more social networking opportunities

Information from Laura, 0161 274 4499 laura@ght.org.uk

News - fundraising

posted: 19/05/2008

New grants, events support and Great Manchester run

Grants fund services
It's been a great few months for fundraising from trusts and local companies, so a big thank you goes to the following organisations:

D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust for covering the costs of creche facilities for the Saturday space and SMART group by donating £3,500; and

HealthSure for funding a range of activities at our group spaces by contributing £2,300; and

Manchester Guardian Society for supporting creative writing workshops at the women's service by donating £1,000.


Events supporters
Events organised independently provide a welcome source of support to George House Trust and we are grateful for the following:

Bury Grammar School around World Aids Day held various events which raised over £500 and we are grateful for the continuing support of the school and in particular Andrew Christian who co-ordinated things;

The Gay Village Community Dinner was held on April 17 with all the proceeds raised for the benefit of George House Trust. A great night was had by all! In addition to all the tickets proceeds (amount to be confirmed), over £400 was raised on the night in sponsorship for our Great Manchester Run team. A big thank you to Gareth Williams at Hot Village, Manchester 235 Casino, and The Birdcage.

Sponsored yoga - making 108 yoga Sun Salutations raised over £500 through the efforts of Jane Craggs www.janecraggs.co.uk

Great Manchester Run
As we go to print the final planning for the 10km Great Manchester Run is almost done. Hopefully by the time you read this we'll all have survived the run and recovered from our blisters.
We have over £5 000 of donations pledged through JustGiving.com alone, so the Run promises to be a successful large fundraising event and hopefully a fun day out for everyone. Big thanks to everyone who ran or is supporting us.
You can donate to us at www.justgiving.com/ght as well as at www.ght.org.uk

In my own words .... FactFile

posted: 19/05/2008

Name: “Carol” (early 40s, British woman, diagnosed 2007)

How did you find out about George House Trust?
When I went to the hospital, when I was diagnosed.


How did you feel when you were diagnosed?
I was shocked, but when I went to be tested the day before, the conversation with the health worker had prepared me for the possibility of a positive diagnosis. So when I received my test result it wasn't as unexpected as it might have been. I had also been ill, so it made sense of some of the symptoms that I had experienced.
I felt completely detached when I left the hospital and walked back to the car. My first thoughts were how was I going to be able to tell my family. The most helpful advice I was given very early on was that I didn't need to tell anyone. I had one very supportive friend that I spoke to straight away.


What George House Trust services have you used?
I have used one to one support to talk about how I am coming to terms with my status. I have also been to the women's group that meets in the evening, as I work, and also the Saturday Space.


How do you rate George House Trust for HIV support?
It has been an invaluable source of support, particularly as I have felt unable to tell many people close to me. One to one sessions at George House Trust have enabled me to talk about how I feel and to know that I am not alone. It is good to know that I can always pick up the phone and hear a supportive voice at the other end.
All the services I have used, the NHS and the voluntary sector have been really supportive. I have never felt so well looked after. I realise I do not have a death sentence.


What message would you like to give to other people?
The message is to be aware, to take responsibility for your own health and not to assume that it can't happen to you. If you have had unprotected sex, it is much better to be tested, so that you know for certain what your health status is. If you are negative, think about how you are going to stay that way!


Hopes for the future
I hope that in the future I feel able to tell more of my close friends, family and colleagues that I am HIV positive.

editorial - From Protest to Pro Test

posted: 19/05/2008

Michelle Reid discusses testing

This year George House Trust will be encouraging people to take regular HIV tests, in an effort to slow down and even decrease the number of new HIV infections in the North-West region.

The "Better to Know" campaign will promote regular testing to everyone. Our front page article encourages people to test in a clinic where trained staff can help people come to terms with whatever result they might receive. But of course, there are a number of other options available.
Home testing kits have been out there for some time, and you can buy these from a variety of places. If this is the route you choose, we recommend that the best supporting advice will be included in kits ordered online from Terrence Higgins Trust (£34 per kit).

Whilst we encourage people to test, you should be aware that home testing kits are not always straight forward. In most cases, you send off a saliva sample. This method can confirm a negative result, but they can't confirm whether you're positive.

When a positive result is indicated, the next step would be to have an HIV test in a medical environment, and there is evidence to suggest that people often don't follow up with a confirming blood test at a clinic.

That's why we strongly encourage people to go for the test in a medical or community testing centre. But however you choose to test, the important thing is to know your status, and to keep on knowing your status.

Treatment Justice at last for migrants

posted: 19/05/2008

The long-running complaint that HIV treatment is not free for all migrants seems to be coming to an end.

HIV treatment is neither free nor automatic for many migrants, unlike treatment for all other sexually transmitted infections.

Aside from being immoral, and breaking an International Covenant the UK signed in 1976, refusing free treatment for HIV leads to unnecessary transmissions, because untreated people are more likely to transmit HIV than people having treatment.

Official Guidance was wrong
At the High Court in London, Mr Justice Mitting made a ruling that means that most people in the UK with HIV now have the right to free treatment. Until this ruling, some migrants (and even British Citizens who have just returned from living or working abroad) could be charged for their HIV treatment.

The effect of the Overseas Visitor Treatment rules was patchy because some hospitals policed these rules reluctantly but others with enthusiasm. In the North-West of England, we have rarely had to challenge hospital decisions to charge and were always successful.

Anyone who can show they are "ordinarily resident" has a legal right to free NHS hospital treatment. The problem is that it is very difficult for hospitals to decide who is "ordinarily resident."
The Department of Health recently made matters worse by tightening up the rules. It also issued hospitals with dodgy official guidance. George House Trust and others warned the Department about these problems.

Understandably hospital staff, who aren’t lawyers, followed the easier path of the dodgy guidance dossier rather than the legal language of the regulations.

The court case was part of a deliberate strategy within the HIV sector to assert the healthcare rights of vulnerable migrants, by challenging Department of Health policy and practice.

Government appeal
The ruling made clear that any migrant who could show they were legally here was probably ordinarily resident. Refused asylum seekers in particular were very likely ordinarily resident and therefore have a right to free hospital treatment of all kinds. The government will probably appeal to the House of Lords and, if it loses that appeal, it may then try to change the law.

Refused asylum seekers and Article 3 applicants should now only need to show form IS96 to the hospital. People lawfully here with a valid visa (such as visitors, students, workers) and intending to stay for some time, should also no longer be charged.

The people left out by the ruling are people here irregularly - people who have overstayed a visa, and those who entered the country irregularly, or who have no papers.

They are only left out because an international Convention the UK agreed in 1976 has still not been made part of UK domestic law. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights establishes the "right to the highest attainable standard of health” which means everyone, including migrants, have the human right to free health care. However until the Covenant is made part of UK law, our judges can’t enforce such international rights.

Despite this, the Department's 2007 publication Human Rights in Health, a framework for local action, advises Trusts to follow a Human Rights approach to providing healthcare http://tinyurl.com/yq6bhn [section 1.3.a].

GP service safe for migrants too
The government is proposing to end many migrants’ right to free primary healthcare such as GP and dental services. Again the HIV and migrant sectors have strongly opposed this. This court ruling effectively blocks the government from ending migrants’ free primary health care. The government may introduce the ban it wants but it will then face another Judicial Review which it can expect to lose. The law and legal principles are the same.

Using Judicial Review by the courts to challenge national and local government misbehaviour, is common but very slow - the queue at the High Court is over a year long.