Join SMART Group to Have a Say

posted: 01/09/2009

Services users can have a significant job as members of the George House Trust SMART group. SMART group is the Service Monitoring and Review Team. SMART group looks at the services that George House Trust provides and is also sometimes asked for its views on the needs of people living with HIV by external organisations. The SMART group reports directly to the Board of Trustees and meets once a month.

We are inviting people to apply to join SMART group for the year following our Annual General Meeting in October. It is one way of becoming more involved in George House Trust and letting us know what you think about the services that we provide and need to develop.

The group meets once a month. Travel costs and help with childcare costs are available. If you join you need to make a commitment to coming to as many meetings as possible over the year.

We are currently recruiting new people to join the SMART group for October 2009 – September 2010.

Applications need to be made by the 30th of September.

Want to know more?
If you would like to know more, or want to become a member then please email Lynda Shentall, the Director of Services at George House Trust, or ring and ask for her on 0161 274 4499.
 

Please complete the Application form and Equal Opportunities forms, then email them to Lynda, by 30 September,

or by post to

Lynda Shentall,

George House Trust,

77 Ardwick Green North,

Manchester, M12 6FX

Have Your Say About GP Changes

posted: 07/08/2009

Your help is asked in an online survey looking at a recent change to HIV services and one that's planned for early next year. The survey is for people using Greater Manchester clinics even if you don't live in Greater Manchester. 

When the NHS is planning or has changed the way it runs services, they need to look at the changes they are making (or have made) and think about the effects they might have on the local community.

Your help is asked with an online health impact assessment - looking at how changes to sexual health services can be made to work better for us all.

Service changes they want to hear about

• Clinics this year stopped prescribing drugs you would normally get from your GP and instead focused solely on HIV and sexual health care
• The Networks plans to pay all hospitals equally for the HIV care they provide (currently not all hospitals get reimbursed fully for the work they do -this will start next April.)

There is a short online questionnaire.

They want to know the positive and negative effects of these changes. This will help them come up with ways to cut problems and maximise the benefits.

Deadline early October

The deadline for responses is Friday 2 October 2009. Comments submitted will be included in the HIA which will be shared across Greater Manchester towards the end of the year. Actions contained in the HIA will be carried out by the Sexual Health Network.

Take part in the survey here     It shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes

The Draft Health Impact Assessment is here if you want to check it.

George House Trust and outside consultations
 

George House Trust is committed to involving HIV positive people in consultation work undertaken by Local Authorities, PCT and national bodies (such as the Department of Health). We are committed to this because we recognise the importance of having a strong service user voice within consultation work.

When we are involved in this work we want to make it clear that we have no control or influence over the outcomes of any particular consultation in which you, as somebody living with HIV may be involved.

• We ask the people / organisation undertaking the consultation work to be clear from the out set what can and cannot be influenced by you as part of the consultation.
• We also ask that the outcomes of the consultation work are made clear including feedback to participants in the consultation.
• Sometimes a member of staff from GHT may be asked to facilitate a particular event. They will always make clear at the beginning of the event that George House Trust has no control over the outcome of the consultation.

Manchester HIV Social Care Consultation

posted: 31/07/2009

If you have used HIV social care services in Manchester, including George House Trust, have your say now about the future for HIV services provided or funded by the city council. The consultation is for all people living with HIV and carers living in Manchester.

Manchester Adult Social Care Department is consulting HIV service users and carers during August and September.

Workers and volunteers can have their say too - volunteers and workers online questionnaire.

The consultation is about social care services provided by, for example, Barnardo's, Black Health Agency, Body Positive North West, George House Trust as well as the council's own HIV Care managers.

The department wants

• Service users and carers to feel they have a voice and can suggest improvements or change
• To know what service users and carers think works well in HIV social care
• To know what service users and carers think needs improving
• To know if service users and carers think there are any gaps in services
• To find out why some people don’t use services.

The department will then discuss these with service providers and the people who plan services and develop an Action Plan for what should happen next.

Confidentiality

If you decide to get involved what you say will be kept confidential so no-one will be able to identify you from your answers and you will not be asked for your name. You do not have to take part, and if you do decide to take part, you can withdraw at any time without giving a reason.

How to have your say

• You can ring Judy Sutton, the Consultation Worker, on 0161-273-2016 or email her. She can then arrange to meet you somewhere private near where you live, or talk to you on the phone
• Judy will be attending group meetings in August and early September at George House Trust, Barnardo’s , Black health Agency and Body Positive North West - when these are arranged the dates and times for those at George House Trust will be added to our website diary - please check
• You can complete a printed questionnaire at one of these service consultations
• You can answer this online questionnaire for HIV+ service users and carers                 
• Volunteers and workers can answer their own questionnaire online or write and post, or email their answers to these staff and volunteer questions (FREEPOST address and email below)
• You can complete a printed questionnaire and return it in a freepost envelope to Judy at the council - address below
• Carer? If you care for someone who is HIV positive you can attend the Focus Group at Manchester Carers Forum, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester, M4 5JW on Wednesday 9 September between 12 and 2pm, or contact Judy to arrange to meet, or complete a questionnaire.
• If you would prefer, Judy can arrange for you to speak to a worker you already know.

Please take the time to have your say - it will help to make sure that you and others are getting the services needed.

This consultation is not about the services at the hospital, health centre or GP’s. If you want to talk about these services Judy can let you know who you can talk to.

Contact Judy Sutton if you have any further questions; by phone 0161-273-2016  
 

FREEPOST address

Judy Sutton
Freepost- MR1514
Town Hall
Manchester
M60 2 BR  

More information - Information Sheet for people taking part

Questions form

Council's letter to people living with HIV and carers

Consultation poster

George House Trust and outside consultations
 

George House Trust is committed to involving HIV positive people in consultation work undertaken by Local Authorities, PCT and national bodies (such as the Department of Health). We are committed to this because we recognise the importance of having a strong service user voice within consultation work.

When we are involved in this work we want to make it clear that we have no control or influence over the outcomes of any particular consultation in which you, as somebody living with HIV may be involved.

• We ask the people / organisation undertaking the consultation work to be clear from the out set what can and cannot be influenced by you as part of the consultation.
• We also ask that the outcomes of the consultation work are made clear including feedback to participants in the consultation. 
• Sometimes a member of staff from GHT may be asked to facilitate a particular event. They will always make clear at the beginning of the event that George House Trust has no control over the outcome of the consultation.

Threat to Attendance Allowance

posted: 31/07/2009

Some people living with HIV get a useful and often valuable benefit called Disability Living Allowance. It has a sister called Attendance Allowance. The big difference is Attendance Allowance is for older people, pensioners. The government is now planning to scrap it.

Currently only about 200 people living with HIV in the NW are 60 or over (this age group saw many die in the 1980s and early-mid 90s). But hard on their heels is a much bigger group of people in their 50s. So the plans to scrap Attendance Allowance affect some people with HIV already, and if it is scrapped, we can confidently predict many people now in their 40s and 50s will be significantly worse off later on.

Benefit for day to day living difficulties

You can claim attendance allowance when the tasks of day to day looking after yourself become too much and you need physical help or encouragement, or watching over. This can include watching over and support for mental ill-health. It can be a life saver when you haven't savings and aren't 'bad' enough to qualify for any social services support.

The top rate is now £70.35 a week. The lower rate is a respectable £47.10. 1.6 million people in Britain aged 65 and over receive it, and many more are entitled but don't claim. Getting this is often a free passport to other benefits and rights. Attendance Allowance, like its sister Disability Living Allowance, is a near universal right that does not depend on where a person lives and it provides cash that can be spent on services older people want, to meet extra costs associated with disability and old age, or anything else at all. This could include paying someone to do the housework or gardening, or to go grocery shopping, or taxi fares to get to the shops or to see the doctor, or going to the cinema, or paying fuel bills.

Plans to use the money for new Council means-tested social care grants

Yet the social care green paper, launched earlier this month, suggests converting attendance allowance into some kind of means-tested social care grant administered by councils.

"In developing the new system we think that there is a case for drawing some funding streams together to enable us to deliver the new and better care and support system we want to create," says the green paper.

It continues: "We think we should consider integrating some elements of disability benefits, for example attendance allowance, to create a new offer for individuals with care needs."

The argument for ditching the allowance is that it is not means-tested and duplicates the local government social care assessment and grant process. The Department of Health argues that the current system is fragmented and complex to understand, access and administer. "To meet the challenge of more people needing care, we want to target public money as effectively as possible," says a DH spokesman.

"Whatever the outcome of the consultation [which runs until November], we want to ensure that people receiving any of the relevant benefits at the time of reform would continue to receive an equivalent level of support and protection, under a new and better care and support system," he adds.

But Attendance Allowance is vital for independence

However, campaigners argue that attendance allowance is vital to help older people stay independent and well for longer. Michelle Mitchell, charity director for Age Concern and Help the Aged, explains: "That extra bit of help may help prevent, or delay the need for more formal care." Receipt of attendance allowance can also make people eligible for additional support as higher rates of means-tested benefits and entitlements can be dependent on carers receiving it.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University, which published research on the impact of transferring AA into the social care system last year, said it found that the benefit was used mainly to pay for the extra costs of living with disability, not care. Transferring the funding could lead to increased deprivation, it said.

Jill Manthorpe, director of the social care workforce research unit at King's College London, said some people who received attendance allowance but were not eligible for social care could lose out from a funding shift.

She added that there were significant advantages to attendance allowance, which could also be lost. "It has fair and transparent criteria," she said. "It's claimed by rich and poor alike. It's incredibly cheap to administer. We forget these things once they're gone."

Counsel and Care chief executive Stephen Burke said hostility to the plan could derail the wider green paper reforms. "We may see instead a massive rearguard action to defend this benefit which is very popular with older and disabled people."

Government Consultation in NW England

The government is holding what it calls a Stakeholder Consultation, in plain English asking the people likely to be affected in some way what they think. In NW England there will be events designed to last around three and a half hours. Stakeholders are invited to share their responses and thoughts in a series of structured facilitated sessions on differing aspects of the Green Paper.

Register here, checking there is space at your chosen date and place, and then click the link at the bottom of the page, to fill in the form.

These are government consultations and of course we have no control over what the government decides as a result. No final decisions are likely this side of the general election, phich will probably be in the Spring.

Attendance allowance: who benefits?

• Attendance allowance is a non-means tested benefit paid to over 65s.
• The higher rate of £70.35 is available to people who need frequent personal care or supervision during day and night.
• The lower rate of £47.10 a week is available to those who need care or supervision during the night only.
• In November 2008, 1.58m people in the UK claimed attendance allowance.
• During 2007-8, 1.22m older pople received a social care service in England.

The Benefits Now website has useful information on both Attendance and Disability Living Allowance including some self-assessment tools.

People living with HIV in NW England can check entitlement to all benefits through an appointment with one of the specialist advisers

Source and additional material

Detailed description and discussion of Green Paper social care proposals in Community Care

USA HIV Travel Ban Consultation

posted: 27/07/2009

The notorious ban on people living with HIV from entering the USA is under official review. There is a  public consultation by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Have your say - opposition to removing the HIV ban is loud

So far many comments are opposed to the removal of the ban, so if removing this ban is important to you please consider posting your support message. 

Official information on the proposals and email them your comments - click the Submit Comments link on that page (this starts a blank email) or email your comments direct

You may like to say something like the statement by Paul Thorn, the Brighton-based HIV treatments access campaigner, who should have spoken at the Pacific health summit in Seattle in June, but was refused entry to the USA after stating his HIV status on his visa-waiver application. This statement was read out to that conference and was the immediate cause of the policy review that is now underway:

"The US government gives people who have HIV one of two choices. The first is to actually be dishonest on the visa application or visa-waiver form, commit a felony by lying to US immigration, and become a criminal. The second choice is to be honest, and have a visa rejected because you are considered an undesirable person, and unfit to enter the US. To my mind either being a criminal or an undesirable isn't much of a choice. I don't want to be either."

He points out that the question asking whether he was HIV positive on the visa-waiver form was alongside questions asking if he was a terrorist or Nazi.

You might add that the USA is rightly acting as a global leader in fighting HIV but this HIV travel ban is incompatible with world leadership on HIV. The ban contradicts the international UNAIDS policy.

Our report on the conference.

There is information on the current USA HIV entry rules here.