Be a HIV Activist
posted: 09/12/2010
NAT (National AIDS Trust) invite everyone to join others and become a HIV Activist, whether you are personally affected by HIV or simply feel strongly about HIV issues. All you need is to want to do something that can make a difference.
Local action and local services
Being a HIV Activist empowers us all, including people living with HIV, when we join others in simple direct actions on HIV issues that affect lives, rights and wellbeing. We need local activists in every district now, because more and more decisions, including about cuts, are now being made locally.
We encourage people to be passionate about HIV and HIV Activists will be given the tools to speak out, and help make the voice and needs of people living with HIV heard by the people making the decisions which affect our lives.
Why be a HIV Activist?
You can have your say on the matters you feel strongly about, such as
- Stigma and discrimination
- Funding for effective HIV prevention, treatment and support
- Poverty
- HIV education and awareness
- Immigration
- Confidentiality of HIV data.
NAT offers HIV Activists a choice of eight to ten actions at any one time. At the moment these include writing to your MP about how benefits cuts announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, and asking your local school if their curriculum includes HIV.
Actions without revealing HIV
There will always be things you can do if you do not wish to disclose your HIV status. Everyone can sign a petition, write a letter to your local MP or school without having to say anything about HIV status.
Feedback and ideas welcome
NAT are keen to get feedback from HIV Activists, and If there’s something you feel strongly about and would like to see included as a future activist action, they’d love to hear about it.
If you are interesting in joining others as a HIV Activist or want to find out more, please email HIV Activist or ring NAT on 020 7814 6767.
There is more information about NAT’s HIV Activists here
Image - The Power to be Strong is a music video and song for World AIDS Day
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Reasons for Travelling to Clinics
posted: 09/12/2010
Most people with HIV in England live within 5km (3 miles) of a specialist HIV clinic, according to a new study. The average distance people travel to their clinic was 2.5km (just over 1.5 miles). However, fewer than 1 in 10 people with HIV use the clinic that is nearest to their home. Why do people travel to a clinic further away?
Researchers wanted to see how far people live from a HIV clinic, and understand why some people travel further than they have to for HIV care.
Choice and advice on chosing clinics
People have the right to choose which HIV clinic to use and the British HIV Association recommends people who require routine, uncomplicated care to use their local clinic, and that people with more complex needs should use a more specialised clinic.
Not much has been studied about travelling to HIV clinics in the UK, nor about the social, demographic or clinical characteristics associated with people's choices about travelling to a HIV clinic.
Over 46,000 people studied
To get a clearer understanding of clinic travel, researchers looked at data on 46,550 HIV-positive adults who received HIV care in England in 2007. They pinpointed the closest HIV clinic for each person. All clinics within 5km of a someone’s home are considered ‘local’.
They looked at the wealth in each person’s borough of residence, and the person’s ethnicity, HIV risk category, length of HIV diagnosis, and HIV treatment status.
What they found – urban and often poor
Most (66%) of the people were men and 50% were white. The great majority (95%) live in an urban area, and 42% live in an economically deprived area. Almost three-quarters (73%) were on HIV treatments.
The median distance travelled to their clinic was 2.5km; but this ranged from less than 1km to 80km (50 miles). People in London travelled less than everyone else (2km vs. 3.7km).
Clinic access is good: 81% live within 5km of a specialist HIV clinic, and 93% live within 10km.
In London people had an average choice of three clinics within 5km, but those living outside the capital average just one local clinic.
The average distance travelled by patients to their clinic was a little under 5km. Overall, 73% use a local clinic. However, only 9% used the clinic closest to where they lived.
Reasons for travelling further
Haemophilia - People who were infected with HIV by blood products (mainly haemophiliacs infected during an old UK blood scandal) were most likely to travel further (51%). “These patients may need to attend specialist services that are not provided locally,” comment the authors.
Urban – People living in urban areas were significantly more likely to attend a non-local clinic than those who live in rural areas (44% vs. 22%) – people in major towns and cities are more likely to have a local choice. People living in rural areas and smaller towns have less or no choice nearby. Travelling to the next clinic is also less practical.
Ethnicity - Black African and black Caribbean people were statistically rather less likely to travel beyond their local service than white people.
Length of diagnosis - How long people have been diagnosed also affected travelling distance. People who had been diagnosed for at least a year were 50% more likely to use a clinic over 5km away service than those diagnosed within the last year (27% vs. 20). The investigators suggest “this may be because patients may not become aware of the choices available to them until they have adjusted to their HIV diagnosis.”
Poverty - Wealth also significantly affects the choice of clinic. People who lived in the better areas were twice as likely as those living in the poorest districts to travel further for treatment (42% vs. 21%). The investigators suggest that “financial difficulty” may prevent some people from travelling to clinics further away. Another recent study showed that almost a third of people with HIV in the UK did not have enough money to meet their needs and that 10% had difficulty meeting travel costs.
Help with paying to travel
If you have a low income or are on benefits, you may have a right to help with the costs of travelling to your clinic. Here's information on help with hospital travel costs.
“Barriers to service choice are likely to related to poverty and unfamiliarity with the options for HIV care,” conclude the authors, “consequently, provision of local services remains vital.”
Source including reference details
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Rise for HIV in Spending Review
posted: 09/11/2010
The Government has commited itself in the recent Spending Review to include specific amounts for HIV social care needs within the local authority grant for the next five years. Remarkably the funding identified for ‘AIDS Support’ is increased from £25.5 million this year to £36.2 million by 2014/15.
George House Trust and other HIV organisations have been in a campaign over the last few months lead by NAT (National AIDS Trust), to persuade the government to at least specify an amount for HIV within local authority budgets.
Following the Spending Review all the grants for special needs – including the AIDS Support Grant – are absorbed into the block grant given to councils, known as the Formula Grant.
However, the government says it will tell councils how much of their Formula Grant is for HIV. These are the figures.
Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT, says:
‘NAT is extremely pleased to see a commitment from the Government to increase funding for HIV social care following our recent campaign. This commitment shows an acknowledgment of the importance of funding these services, and recognition that the rising numbers and ageing population of people living with HIV will result in both continuing and increasing social care needs within this group.
‘However, we do remain concerned that with the removal of the ring-fence around this funding and the increased emphasis on local flexibility, there is a risk that HIV social care funds could be spent elsewhere. NAT encourages all local authorities to ensure the needs of people living with HIV in every area are met, and this means using the funding committed to HIV social care to provide the services necessary.’
Further information (including the figures above) are in a
letter on Local Government and the Spending Review from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
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Guidance on Cuts, Equality and Fairness
posted: 28/10/2010
In making cuts and changes to services, public bodies have to obey equality law. Equality law does not prevent public bodies from making difficult decisions about reorganisation, relocation, redundancies, and service cuts, nor does the law stop public authorities from making decisions that may affect one group more than another.
A Must: Equality Impact Assessments
But the public equality duties do enable public authorities to show they are making decisions in a fair, transparent and accountable way, considering the needs and the rights of different members of their community.
The law says public bodies have to carry out an assessment of the impact that changes to policies, procedures and practices could have on different equality groups. These assessments help public bodies make better decisions, based on robust evidence. Public bodies must then 'have regard to' the impact any changes and cuts would have on sections of the community protected by equality law.
The assessment does not have to be a document called an Equality Impact Assessment, although this is what the Equality and Human Rights Commission recommends, as it helps public authorities:
- ensure they have a written record of the equality considerations they have taken into account
- ensure that their decision includes a consideration of the actions that would help to avoid or mitigate any unfair impact on particular equality groups
- make their decisions based on robust evidence
- make the decision-making process more transparent
- comply with the law.
If an Equality Impact Assessment is not done, then the public body must use an another method to systematically assess any adverse impact of a change in policy, procedure or practice.
It is a legal obligation which should remain a top priority, even in times of economic difficulty. Failure may result in authorities facing costly, time-consuming and reputation-damaging legal challenges.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched a short guide to help put fairness and transparency at the heart of the difficult financial decisions through meeting the legal obligation to assess equality impact. The guide covers:
- What the law requires now
- What the law requires from April 2011
- Guidance (for practitioners and decision-makers)
- Relevant case law
- Best practice examples
- FAQs Public authorities and service providers
- FAQs Service users and organisations
Short Guide
Full details
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Saving AIDS Support Grant
posted: 26/05/2010
Before the election, the end of ring-fenced AIDS Support Grant for local councils was announced. The new coalition government has now said it will phase out all types of ring-fenced grants for councils.
National AIDS Trust has now written to Paul Burstow (Lib Dem, Sutton & Cheam in Surrey), the new Minister for State for Social Care Services, setting out the need to continue to ring-fence AIDS Support Grant after 2011.
It has also written to Anne Milton, the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health.
The new Government has emphasised the importance of public health interventions, and NAT stress the potential public health implications of removing of the ring-fence. Because of this, and given the recent commitment to phase out ring-fenced grants for local authorities, NAT also suggests that the Grant could be paid to PCTs instead, rather than local authorities.
Add Your Voice
Organisations and individuals may wish to write to Paul Burstow, or their local MP, to emphasise the vital role of the ring-fenced ASG. NAT’s letter to the minister can be used by people and organisations to make the point that the ring-fence is still needed.
Any letters to the minister should reflect the local situation. You might emphasise these points:
- The important role ASG funding currently plays in funding local services
- The impact the loss of the ring fence would have on funding for HIV orgnaisations (it is far less likely that local authorities will continue to fund services without the ring fence - what would happen to people if support is no longer available?)
- Some case studies showing the difference the Grant makes to the lives of individuals and families in your area
NAT 2009 report on The AIDS Support Grant – Making a Difference?
Latest Department of Health details on ASG allocations for each council in England and how it should be spent
NW England
AIDS Support Grant 2009-2010 and total HIV population by social services district
download our handy guide for NW England here
The AIDS Support Grant allocations for the current year, April 2010 – March 2011, have not been published – it should be listed as a circular here
Here is gathered information from Freedom of Information requests on AIDS Support Grant in different parts of England
text of NAT letter to Minister
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