Services Reviews

This page gives the results of recent reviews of services. They are in this order

Women's Space

Saturday SpaceGay

Men's Space

African Space

Women's Space Review, March 2010

3 August 2010 review by Amanda
Number of women taking part: 38

What women like about Women's Space:

• HIV general knowledge
• Food
• Health advising
• Socialising
• Volunteers
• Meeting new people
• The conversation
• The freedom we have to talk about our lives
• Peer support
• Meeting and interacting with people from various nationalities
• Transport money
• Sharing ideas
• Cracking jokes to one another, very friendly atmosphere

What people do not like about the group space

• Discrimination (amongst us)
• Cold food
• People not mixing with others
• Time is to short
   

Activities people would like to see happening at the space

• Trips out
• People talking about their experience
• Manicure
• Talk from immigration solicitors
• Talk from consultants
• Table tennis
• Quizzes
• Bingo
• Jewellery making
• Sewing
• Salsa dancing
• Camping
• BBQ’s
• Exercise for fitness

Any comments on how comfortable / assessable the group feels

• Very comfortable
• I am always at ease to talk about anything
• Keep it up
• I really feel at home when I am here, I feel accepted and wanted
• I feel comfortable because everything is confidential

Previous Women's Space Reviews 

2      Saturday Space Quarterly Review April 2010

Reviewed April 17 2010, by Colin, 18 people attended.

What do people like about the space?

• Meeting people,
• Socialising
• Chatting with other people
• Mixed group – good to have people from different backgrounds mixing together
• Activities are enjoyable and good fun
• Volunteers are friendly

What do people not like about the space?

• Would be good to have hot food occasionally
• Food which is more culturally appropriate – e.g. some African food 
• Not enough salad

What would people like to see more of at the space?

• More activities
• Knowing in advance when the spaces are scheduled for the year
• Trips out to places over the summer
• More Saturday Spaces over the year!

Any other comments?

People felt that the space was friendly and enjoyed the atmosphere

Next Saturday Space Quarterly Review      16 October 2010

Previous Saturday Space Reviews 

3    Gay Men's Space Review 

Gay Men’s Space Quarterly Review: June 28th 2010
 

Chaired by – Colin Armstead Service and Development Manager, with Rosie Robinson, Chief Executive present
 

Number of men at review – around 20.
 

What do men like about the space?

• Informality
• A good sociable space
• Just chatting
• Good to be able to support each other
• It’s a safe haven
• Relaxing place
• A nice place to stop off on the way to dancing!
   

What do men not like about the space?

• The room needs to be painted – it’s looking a bit shabby
• It would be good to have more computers available

What would men like to see more of?

• Therapies – massage / acupuncture
• More art workshops
• More of the discussion group
• Training about how to use social networking sites best
   

Next quarterly review meeting Monday September 20th 2010
 

Previous Gay Men's Space Reviews

4      African Service Review - June 29th 2010

The review was held in an open session of the African space. People were asked to explain what they liked, disliked and what they would change about the space. We also explained that from now on the African reviews would begin with a progress report to give feedback from actions taken from the last review.
 

Name of person conducting the review: Daniel Murphy Service and Development manager
Number of people participating in the review: 40
 

What people like about African space
Some common themes came up again from the service users. People first and foremost valued the fact they could meet other positive people in a safe and comfortable environment. In the group discussion and from the individual feedback sheets GHT’s prioritisation of confidentiality was identified as a positive. Access to advice on HIV, immigration and debt advice was also identified as a positive.
Almost everyone who fed back said socialising was important to them and that if possible George House Trust should organise a picnic or an outing.
50% of all the people who fed back identified access to the emergency welfare fund as very important to them and their families. Food parcels, clothes were also mentioned as having a positive impact and valued at the space.
People also said they enjoyed workshops at the spaces especially those that had a HIV focus.
 

Likes

• Food
• Food parcels
• Making friends
• Advice
• Clothes
• Immigration support
• Volunteers
• Financial help
• Staff
• Socialising
• Safe space
• Workshops
• Friends
• Confidentiality
   

Dislikes
Again there were some common themes. People said that the group can sometimes be cliquey and when people speak lots of different languages it can exclude minority groups. Sometimes people also felt that they were being judged or gossiped about by the other people at the space.
Almost everyone said they would prefer hot to cold food especially in the wintertime.
Staffing: People disliked the fact they could not always speak to the staff member they wanted and one service user felt that the staff had favourites who were always seen first.
Financial support: Many people said that although they valued the GHT welfare fund that the amount was not enough.

Dislikes

• Cold food
• Gossiping
• Cliques
• Not seeing staff you want
• Arguments
• Favouritism
• Shouting
• Language barriers
   

Activities people would like to see happening at the space:
People said they would like to see more talks especially around HIV management, they asked for the doctors and nurses to come to talk about treatments. People also wanted to see immigration solicitors to give them updates on the situations for people living with HIV and the legacy cases.
A request was made for salsa dancing, or music themed spaces that would get people integrating together, or fun games that would get people from different countries talking.
A few requests were made for an increase in the amounts of money in the welfare fund and through emergency payments
 

Wants

• Talk from solicitors / MP’s/ Home Office
• Local holidays
• HIV related Activities and talks Excursions
• To see the Doctors at George House Trust
• Emergency accommodation
• Fun games
• African food
• Music / dance
• Iinformation on life insurance
   

Any comments on how comfortable / accessible the group feels:
None that were not mentioned above
 

Other comments
3 people chose just to talk about immigration:
“We feel welcome at George House, and we feel at home. Asylum seekers get treated very badly by other people in the UK.”
“I feel part of the GHT, you must tell them for us. Please don’t deport people living with HIV positive because of no medication back home. Always we want to work, not be on benefit. Please help us all, thank you”.
 

Previous African Space reviews