Want to Have a Say?

posted: 11/10/2010

George House Trust wants four people to join our SMART group to have a say about our services. The deadline for applying is Monday 1 November.

We believe involving people with HIV in our services is really important. As part of our Service User Involvement Strategy, our SMART group, the Service Monitoring and Review Team, is a key way for people to have a real say in our services.

African and gay men wanted especially

SMART is a team of 16 people who use George House Trust services. SMART reports directly to the Board of George House Trust. We want 4 people to join SMART and we particularly want HIV positive African and gay men to apply, as both of these are under-represented on SMART.

SMART group meets every 2 - 3 months. You will be sent copies of papers to read and think about before the meeting. SMART meetings discuss all aspects of our services. SMART agrees a work plan for what we will discuss each year.

What does SMART do?
SMART involves people with HIV who use services to examine how we deliver services and suggests ways to develop and improve services.

Why get involved?
SMART is one way to be more involved in George House Trust and put something back. Involvement informs you about service delivery and developments as well as how we monitor and evaluate services. Becoming involved in SMART builds your skills and experiences.

What skills and experience do I need to join SMART?

Here are the things we expect of people in the SMART:

• Ability to maintain confidentiality and keep our ground rules at all times
• Being committed to service user involvement and providing feedback
• Making the time to read all the papers before the meetings
• Interested in all services George House Trust provides
• Being committed to working together as part of the SMART team
• To broadly support the work of George House Trust

Deadline: applications must be returned to Lynda by Monday 1st November .

SMART application pack

1. Information and what we are looking for
2. SMART Terms of Reference
3. Application form

Information from and applications to Lynda Shentall, Director of Services by email or phone 0161 274 4499 

Work Incapacity Tests – Have Your Say

posted: 09/08/2010

You can have your say in an independent review of how people’s fitness for work is checked by a medical, when claiming benefits for being too ill or disabled to work. People who claim Employment and Support Allowance have medical assessments as part of their claim. These are called ‘Work Capability Assessments’. The fairness of these is now being checked. We know many people with HIV are having serious problems with these.

Also people in Burnley who are on Incapacity Benefit are being put through these medicals as part of a national pilot. Beginning in February, everyone else on Incapacity Benefit will have to have one of these medicals. Many people living with HIV claim these two benefits.
 

Problems lead to review

The fairness of these medical assessments is being checked by an independent national review, led by Professor Malcolm Harrington, who is an occupational health expert. He will produce a report by the end of the year on whether the assessments are fair and transparent.
 

Have your say

You can have your say, based on your experience by Friday 10 September.

They ask a number of questions, but you don’t even need to answer these – simply say what happened to you, and whether you think the system works for people with HIV, or you could give plain and simple answers to questions 2, 3 4, and 6. Most of the questions are aimed at benefits experts.
 

Email your comments

or post your comments to WCA Independent Review Team, Floor 6, Section B, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA.
 

What benefits and disability experts think
Disability charities say the current assessments tests are inflexible, and fail to take into account how long-term conditions (like HIV) can vary from day to day, or from week to week. George House Trust knows there are serious problems with the way these incapacity assessments are done and that people with HIV face a high rate of wrong refusals.
 

Atos Healthcare (who have the government contract for doing Employment Support Allowance assessments) appear to refuse to record basic HIV information like people’s CD4 count, admit their own ignorance about HIV and unwillingness to learn about HIV, don’t refer people with HIV to doctors for a full medical assessment as they should do, refuse to consider the ‘exceptional circumstances’ rules (regulations 29 and 35), and ignore medical reports from HIV doctors.
 

The advisers at Manchester Advice who specialise in HIV have won appeals before they can even say a word. Independent Tribunals have shown they are disturbed and surprised that plain evidence of obvious incapacity for work due to HIV is ignored, and at the failure to follow the rules.

 

What You Said About Our Services

posted: 14/05/2010

We asked you about your experience of our services earlier in the year and this is what you told us. We used the online SurveyMonkey service and this worked really well.

Almost 200 people have a say
197 people completed the survey and there was a relatively good spread across NW England, as well as from the various groups of people using our services.

Overwhelmingly positive
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with some really useful suggestions for learning, development and action. You gave us a lot of feedback and we really welcome all the comments and ideas.

Some statistical highlights
A massive 95.9 % rated their overall satisfaction with services as either excellent / very helpful, or helpful.

77.5 % said that George House Trust either fully or mostly met their needs as an HIV positive person.

85.6% of people were very or quite satisfied that an issue or problem had been dealt with well by staff.

A massive 97.6% found the staff very helpful  or helpful.

Volunteers also produced excellent satisfaction levels - 88% found volunteers very helpful  or helpful .

Impact highlights
76.8% of people said that using George House Trust services had improved their health and well being a lot, or to some degree.

77.7% of people said that using George House Trust services had helped increase confidence a lot, or to some degree.

87% of people said using George House Trust had increased their awareness of HIV and related issues.

47% had been helped to try volunteering, education and employment opportunities.

Findings and suggestions included

• Development of gay men’s space
• Services for people in employment
• What is there for people living further afield?
• Valuing the services and support available
• The positive impact of services
• The high value placed on one to one support
• The value of financial support received through George House Trust

Action ideas
Many people made comments on services or areas for development, and some of the suggestions for action are :

• Conduct more research into what employed people want from GHT. If you are interested in being involved in this please let Lynda Shentall know by email, or phone on 0161 274 5652
• Be clearer about what we can offer people who live further away
• Better publicity and communication – we will make improvements on the way we communicate with service users, and make sure everyone has the chance to use everything that is open to them
• Closing the counselling list for a time. Your survey feedback told us queuing a long time for counselling was stressful. So we have reviewed the service and closed the waiting list for now. We will work through the list and meet the needs of people who have waited a long time.
• Gay men’s space actions for improvement.

Winners of prize vouchers
The 5 winners of the £20 high street vouchers have now received their prizes and our thanks also go to everyone who took part.

Want to know more?

If you want to discuss the survey feedback or to know more then please contact Lynda Shentall Director of Services at George House Trust by email or phone 0161 274 5652.

Unlawful HIV+ Migrants Detention

posted: 19/04/2010

Two people with HIV are claiming that the Home Office (and UK Border Agency) are illegally failing to provide them with adequate HIV treatment and care while they are held in detention for months. The same solicitors who took the Department of Health to courts for charging refused asylum seekers and other migrants for their HIV treatment, Pierce Glynn, are dealing with these two cases.

HIV+ migrants detention not ' very exceptional'

Home Office guidance says that someone with a serious medical condition (like HIV) should only be detained if there are “very exceptional circumstances.” Despite this, the Home Office has failed to justify detention of either person as ‘very exceptional’. Additionally, the standard of healthcare provided in immigration removal centres falls well below that which is essential for people with a serious condition such as HIV. For both people, during many months of detention, their HIV treatments have run out several times, and they have not been taken to appointments with their HIV consultant.

These two cases illustrate the concerns raised repeatedly by HIV organisations and HIV clinicians. These Judicial Review hearings should take place in the next two months.

Released after 8 months
In a related case, the same solicitors, Pierce Glynn, obtained the release of another HIV+ detainee who was held for eight months, again with no exceptional circumstances to justify this detention. After solicitors letters threatened a judicial review, the Home Office released the person. The solicitors are now suing the Home Office for damages due to the lengthy and unnecessary detention, and their failure to provide appropriate medical care.

Source 
 

Asylum Detention Challenges

posted: 23/03/2010

The harsh treatment faced by detained women and children seeking asylum - including women and children with HIV - who are held at Yarl’s Wood will now be closely considered by both the High Court and the British Medical Association.
 

Three Human Rights Abused
"Lawyers have been granted permission to challenge the government's detention policy, which they claim amounts to "cruel, inhumane and degrading" treatment of women and children.

The High Court has given the go-ahead for a judicial review of the cases of four women held at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre after lawyers claimed their treatment breaches articles three, five and eight of the European convention on human rights. This comes very soon after many women have ended a 5 week hunger strike in protest at the conditions and their treatment.

Jim Duffy, a solicitor at Public Interest Lawyers, which is bringing the case, welcomed the decision. "The case confronts the policy and practice of the Home Office and the private company running Yarls Wood, Serco."
 

Three Yarl's Wood doctors investigated
Three doctors working at Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre are facing investigation by the General Medical Council, amid calls for healthcare at the centre to be transferred from the private sector to the NHS. Alistair Burt, Tory MP for North East Bedfordshire, (containing Yarl’s Wood) described healthcare as the weak link and that this weakness can only be ended by transferring healthcare to the NHS.
 

As he points out: "If there is an issue over fitness to travel and the decision is made by a contracted company inside Yarl's Wood, what chance is there of having confidence that it has not been influenced by the contract given to the contractors to get people out of the country?"

More details from Medical Justice 1 and Medical Justice 2 and Medical Justice 3