Partnership News Update

This month we have been establishing our work programme for the coming year. Our new products will be available via the website at the end of March 2015 and some of our work in 2015 will be in the dissemination of these and opportunities to talk with service providers and others how to utilised these in service delivery. Our engagement work in the forthcoming year will be externally focused and will host meetings in different parts of England engaging in person with stakeholders.  Read on below for more information about our current and upcoming work.

Sexual Orientation Monitoring

Since the beginning of the National LGB&T Partnership Sexual Orientation Monitoring (SOM) has been the golden thread of our work – a key theme for the partnership based on the idea of -  if you are not counted your needs don’t count.

The first part of this work was to establish who was responsible in the differing parts of the health service for nominating protected characteristics and how to include sexual orientation monitoring in demographic forms.  As it turned out there were very many differing departments and individuals involved in this process for differing parts of the NHS as a complex organisation.  There are also many processes to be gone through for the introduction of a new data standard.  So initially the work involved establishing support for the idea of SOM, which was gathered rapidly as there was general support for monitoring, with wide understanding of the need for it and the gap left in current knowledge without it.

The difficulty came in relation to having access to resources to enable it to happen  A big corner was turned more recently when personnel in NHS England with the authority to establish change, supported the establishment of a task and finishing group from all parts of the system so that change could be steered through.  What has supported this has been the agreement of the questions to ask in relation to SOM so that a new information standard can be put in place and begin the formal process of this.  This is a detailed and technical process which when successful will change the data dictionary and will bring in a legal requirement for any NHS provider to monitor sexual orientation - so we will be counted and our needs will count.

SOM – will be a lasting legacy for the National LGB&T partnership and will enable individual and organisations at a local level to be able to challenge when SOM is not happening and will provide much needed data that currently does not exist.  It is unusual for data standards to be changed so when it comes about it will be a great achievement. LGB people will no longer be invisible within services and health care settings and we will be able to examine patterns and how LGB&T people’s health is impacted and any distinguishing health inequalities will be clearly evidenced enabling targeted health campaigns to take place, and clear evidence for commissioning of specific services when needed.

Whilst we have made good progress for SOM, and there has been a clear consensus within the LGB community that this is needed, there is less of a consensus within the Trans* community and the conversations of what, how and if monitoring needs to take place are still ongoing. There is a need to continue these conversations whist recognising that there is further complexity within the process of changing data standards as there is a current gender question. For SOM it was a process of just adding a question as no prior question was in existence .  Altering a question make the process both more costly and there are additional factors to be considered, for example the Gender Recognition Act as confidentiality in relation to data sets within the system can not be guaranteed at this point.

Physical Activity Workstream

We are currently working on two pieces of work for the Sports & Physical Activity work stream. A review of policy and practice of NGB’s, carried out by Lou Englefield, a report of which will be delivered to PHE. We also have a survey out on LGB&T peoples level and take up of physical activity, patricianly around walk to work and other forms of activity. We hope this work will inform government strategy about LGBT inclusion in sports & physical activity and support PHE in its policy development in this area, to ensure the needs of LGB&T people are met through government funded programmes. 

The key message of this work is to ensure that mainstream funded sports agencies and NGBs have a clear understanding of the needs of the LGBT community and any barriers they may face in take up of physical activity and sport.  This work will support a broader understanding amongst PHE staff around the issues faced by LGB&T in this area.

Update from Department of Health

Call for Nominations for 2016 New Year’s Honours

The Department of Health has commenced its trawl for honours nominations for New Year 2016.  Further information, including a letter from Permanent Secretary, Una O’Brien, is available on the DH website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-years-honours-nomination-form-and-guidance  
 
If you have any names you would like to put forward for consideration (whether from within your own organisation or more widely), please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Department’s honours team on 020 7210 5937 and they will be happy to help. The Department is particularly keen to receive nominations for women and people from black and ethnic minorities.
 Please send us your nominations by Monday 9 March.

Supporting carers to stay in paid employment

Ministers have launched a series of pilots exploring ways to help carers balance work with their caring responsibilities.

Carers could soon be using smart phones, email alerts and pop-up care centres to help them plan and co-ordinate formal and informal support. The ideas will be trialled as part of £1.6 million of pilot projects announced by Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan, and Norman Lamb, Minister for Care and Support at the Department for Health.
To read more, go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/supporting-carers-to-stay-in-paid-employment

Plans for new legal protection for NHS whistleblowers

A new report on progress made across the health system has been published, along with plans to protect those who speak up about poor care.
 
To read more, go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plans-for-new-legal-protection-for-nhs-whistleblowers

Smoking in cars set to become illegal

Parliament has approved regulations which will make smoking in cars carrying children illegal.  The new rules will come into force on 1 October 2015 and people failing to comply could face a £50 fixed penalty notice.
 
To read more, go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smoking-in-cars-is-now-illegal
 

Update from NHS England

NHS England and Public Health England guide highlights importance of communities to health and wellbeing - new report published

A new guide from NHS England and Public Health England has identified how local government and the NHS have important roles in building confident communities to improve health and reduce inequalities.
 
The guide calls on local partners to consider the “family” of community centred approaches to improve health and wellbeing in their areas, including:
 

• Strengthening communities – where approaches involve building on community capacities to take action together, both on health and on the social determinants of health.
• Volunteer and peer roles – where approaches focus on enhancing individuals’ capabilities to provide advice, information and support or organise activities around health and wellbeing in their or other communities.
• Collaborations and partnerships – where approaches involve communities and local services working together at any stage of planning cycle
• Access to community resources – where approaches connect people to community resources, practical help, group activities and volunteering opportunities to meet health needs and increase social participation.

• Consider how community-centred approaches can become an essential part of local health plans
• Recognise the diverse range of approaches that can be used to improve physical and mental health
• Use the family of community-centred approaches as a tool to consider potential options for commissioning health improvement and preventive services
• Involve those at risk of social exclusion in designing and delivering solutions that address inequalities in health
• Celebrate, support and develop volunteering as the bedrock of community action

New guidance on mental health standards published

NHS England has set out guidance for how new access and waiting time standards for mental health services are to be introduced. In October, NHS England and the Department of Health announced the measures in Improving better access to mental healthservices by 2020.The guidance explains the case for change in four areas and sets out the expectations of local commissioners for delivery during the year ahead, working with providers and other partners.

New framework for commissioning support services announced

NHS England has announced the organisations that have been approved to join the new Commissioning Support Lead Provider Framework, following a rigorous procurement process. The approved organisations come from across the NHS and private sector and successfully met the tough quality and value for money tests to deliver the best support services to Clinical Commissioning Groups and other commissioners of health and social care services.

To read more, go to: http://www.england.nhs.uk/lpf/

Update from Public Health England

PHE launches new tool to raise awareness about heart disease

Over 18,000 people died prematurely from coronary heart disease in 2013. Using the new tool, people can find out the age of their heart by inputting simple lifestyle information, such as their weight and whether they smoke, and see how this compares to their actual age. They can then take action to improve their health.
The personalised results, combined with the free NHS Health Check, give an opportunity for people to take action to reduce their risk of developing serious but preventable conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, and certain types of dementia.
The new heart age tool is on the NHS Health Check website which provides information about what happens at the NHS Health Check, when and how to get one, and how to lower your risk.
 

PHE has published Equality and Diversity Report

The equality duty is supported by 2 specific duties which require public bodies such as PHE to:
 

• publish information to show their compliance with the equality duty
• set and publish equality objectives at least every 4 years

NHS England: Trans people shouldn’t wait longer than 18 weeks for treatment

NHS England has affirmed the rights of trans people to be treated within 18 weeks of referral – despite growing backlogs in the system leaving some waiting years.  Read more here

Deaths in detention of hundreds of people with mental health conditions

Repeated basic errors, a failure to learn lessons and a lack of rigorous systems and procedures have contributed to the non-natural deaths of hundreds of people with mental health conditions detained in psychiatric hospitals, prisons and police cells in England and Wales, according to a major new Inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Read more here.

New National Homophobic, Biphobic and Transphobic Hate Crime Partnership

A major new initiative to tackle hate crime has been announced by the LGBT Consortium today. It brings together a partnership of 31 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) organisations from across England and Wales. Funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission the partnership will aim to increase the reporting of LGBT hate crimes and incidents and improve the support available to those targeted.

Read more here.
 

Summary of Live Consultations

• We really encourage and value your input into each consultation response that is sent out by The National LGB&T Partnership.  The more individuals and organisations that contribute to and endorse key messages in support of health equalities for LGBT people, the stronger our voice becomes.  It is also crucial that we encapsulate the breadth and diversity of opinions and experiences where possible.
•  
• Voluntary Community Social Enterprise Review (DH, PHE, NHSE) http://www.voluntarysectorhealthcare.org.uk/vcse-review/ Deadline 2nd March

• The consultation on partnership arrangements between NHS bodies and local authorities can be found here and the closing date is 8 March 2015.
•  
• The Department has published a consultation which proposes to amend the NHS Constitution to respond to recommendations made by Sir Robert Francis QC and to give greater prominence to mental health; reflect the importance of access to transparent and comparable data; include the Armed Forces Covenant; reflect the new fundamental standards in April 2015.  Click here to see the consultation that closes on 11 March 2015.

• Care Quality Commission: Regulating specialist substance misuse services http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/consultation-how-we-regulate-specialist-substance-misuse-services Deadline 19th March
•  
• A consultation seeking views on the draft regulations and guidance needed to introduce the cap on care costs and proposals for a new appeals system is available here and closes on the 30 March 2015

• NHS England: Investing in specialised commissioning https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/3a67882b Deadline 27th April.

LGBT Volunteers Needed for New End of Life Study

GMFA is partnering with Marie Curie in a nationwide study about end of life care for LGBT people, which will be led by King's College London.

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans people do not receive the support they need when facing a life-limiting illness. 

If you identify as LGB and/or T and are approaching the later stages of a life-limiting illness (such as cancer, neurological conditions, heart, lung or liver disease), the research team at King’s College London would like to talk to you about your experiences, to find out how care could be improved. 

It will involve an in-depth interview with a researcher to discuss your experiences.

CQC Inspection of West London Mental Health Trust

This is one of the forthcoming inspections for the CQC between April and June and the public are invited to share their experiences.  The current list of services to be inspected can be find at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/next-providers-be-inspected

New LGBT+ Research Network 

A new network for academics and researchers who carry out research with lesbian, gay, bi & trans people, their communities and the broad spectrum of related topics that affect them.

This Network has been developed in consultation by a consortium of Academics and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Sector Partners and was commissioned by Public Health England and Government Equalities Office in order to develop new ways of connecting researchers, academics and communities involved in LGBT+ research.

If you are interested in finding out more or in joining this network you can contact us.

Teacher Support Network Group Report Reveals LGBT Staff in Education  Suffering Discrimination - follow up Study taking place

Teacher Support Network Group surveyed education staff across the UK to coincide with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) History Month. We're repeating it this February to see how issues have changed over the last year, particularly since the introduction of same-sex marriage in March 2014. Look out for their 2015 finding later in the year

http://www.teachersupport.info/research-policy/reports/lgbt-report

PHE action plan tackles health inequalities for men who have sex with men (MSM)

Public Health England (PHE) has launched an action plan to address the health and wellbeing inequalities affecting gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM).
 
The plan focuses on three interrelated areas in which MSM are disproportionately burdened with ill-health: sexual health and HIV, mental health and in the use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco.

Click here for more on this story and to download a copy of the action plan.
 

Action Learning Set to Improve the health of Black and other Minority Ethnic men who have sex with Men (BME MSM)

GMFA will be working with the National LGB&T Partnership and Public Health England on an action learning set to improve the health of Black and other Minority Ethnic men who have sex with men (BME MSM).
 
This will be an opportunity to share best practice and learning, with a view to improving the service offered by LGB&T community organisations to all BME MSM, including men from Central and Eastern Europe and Central and South America. This project is funded by a MAC AIDS Fund grant to Public Health England, specifically to improve the health of BME MSM. However, we hope that the learning from the activity will help to improve services for all BME LGB&T people.
 
Due to delays in approval for the evaluation wing of this project, the date for the first learning set has now been set back to 19 March. The 2^nd session will take place on 9^th April and there will be 4 more sessions in total (including two joint sessions with faith groups and BME organisations). The dates for these later sessions will be confirmed shortly.
 

If you are interested in taking part and have not booked a place and / or received a confirmation email, please contact me. Please reply indicating the names and job titles of all members of your organisation who are interested in taking part. Please indicate whether you or your colleagues will attend in person or by using the conference call facilities.
 
  
Who should participate:
 

• Management within LGB&T organisations and other organisations that serve LGB&T communities
• Project workers within LGB&T organisations with a specific remit for working with BME communities
• Leaders within the LGB&T communities
• LGB&T leaders within BME communities.
• Contact: Matthew Hodson - matthew.hodson@gmfa.org.uk

BiCon 2015 Announces venue

The venue for the year’s biggest bi festival has been announced. BiCon 2015 will be in Nottingham at the University Park Campus. A few weeks ago the dates for were announced as August 13th – 16th.

Conference, convention, gathering, whatever you want to call it BiCon is the largest bi-focused event of the year, with typically 250 – 400 people attending. Bookings will open soon with options both to stay on-site or for day / weekend passes for those who want live locally, don’t fancy student halls accommodation.

You can find out more here.
 

LVSC/London for All’s London Health Inequalities report

The report of the recent Health Inequalities event, held on 29th October 2014 has now been finalized and published to the LVSC site. One of the key aims of the event was to explore the mechanisms and levers to enable the VCS, policy makers and commissioners to work more effectively together to reduce health inequalities; achieve better health outcomes; and ultimately effect change.

Click here to read the whole report.

Brief Survey on LGB&T Take Up of Physical

Please take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire. The National LGB&T Partnership for Health & Wellbeing is surveying members of the LGB&T community about their level of physical activity. The results will be analysed and a report prepared for Public Health England.
 
It’s just a few quick questions, it’ll only take about ten minutes. The survey is confidential, we are not asking for your name or address. Find it here.
 
You could win £40 worth of Amazon Vouchers by full completing this survey (leave your email at the end of the survey to be entered into the prize draw)
Survey closes on March 9.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/lgbtphysicalactivity

LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week

This is the third annual LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week and all are being encouraged  and  to adopt or foster. 

For further information go to http://www.newfamilysocial.org.uk/

Trans Youth Residential: 10-12 April 2015

Young trans people aged 13-25 are welcome to come on this fun, interesting and supportive residential that Afternoon TEA trans youth group is organising. It is free to come too thanks to Comic Relief!

• At Launde Abbey in Leicestershire, on April 26th - 28th
• Single, en-suite rooms for everyone!
• Food & accommodation provided… completely free!

Job Opportunities: Volunteer Coordinator

Birmingham LGBT is seeking to recruit a dynamic and motivated individual to the role of Volunteer Coordinator funded by the Health & Social Care Volunteer Fund. The Volunteer Coordinator will be responsible for recruiting, training and mentoring volunteers to support delivery of services at the LGBT Health and Wellbeing Centre in the city.

Areas of work include developing and facilitating a volunteer training programme, developing volunteer work plans, recruiting and supporting volunteers, arranging volunteer support meetings, coordinating the community outreach and wellbeing assessments programme, as well as managing volunteer placements in the centre.

The successful applicant will join a motivated and enthusiastic team based at the Birmingham LGBT Centre in Central Birmingham.

Terms:

NJC SO1 point 29, £25,440 (pro rata)
plus up to 5% matched pension contributions.

Based in Birmingham

18 month fixed term contract on going subject to funding

18.5 hours per week, with evening and weekend work

25 days annual leave entitlement, pro rata.

Birmingham LGBT is an equal opportunities employer.

Closing Date for applications is on Friday 13 March 2015 at 5pm

An application pack can be downloaded at www.blgbt.org/vacancies/ or email recruitment@blgbt.org

For more details contact Steph Keeble on 0121 643 0821

SHOUT Development Officer

Birmingham LGBT is seeking to recruit to a highly motivated individual to the post of SHOUT Development Officer, funded by Arts Council England. The successful candidate will lead a review of the governance, operation and programming of the annual SHOUT Festival of Queer Culture.

The post will also be responsible for the sustainability of this exciting festival and will work with key stakeholders and partners to develop a year round programme of LGBT cultural activity in Birmingham and develop a regional programmer’s forum focused on queer arts development.

The successful applicant will join a motivated and enthusiastic team based at the Birmingham LGBT Centre in Central Birmingham.

Terms:

NJC scale S01 point 29 £25,440 pro rata

Plus up to 5% matched pension contributions        

Flexible 20 hours per week, with regular evening and weekend work; 25 days annual leave entitlement.

15 month Fixed term contract ongoing subject to funding.

Birmingham LGBT is an equal opportunities employer.

Closing Date for applications is on Friday 13th March at 5pm.

An application pack can be downloaded at www.blgbt.org/vacancies/ or email recruitment@blgbt.org

For more details contact David Viney on 0121 643 0821

BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival

19-29 March 2015. For films, events, club nights and more.

Explore the programme

National LGB&T Partnership Stakeholder Engagement