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Greens claim National Health Service not safe in Labour’s hands

Greens condemn plans to cut local NHS services as ‘STP’ proposals partially reveal a cut of 60 million to local NHS services.

web-600The Green Group of Councillors on Brighton & Hove City Council reveal that plans to reduce the deficit in the local NHS include slicing the number of hospital beds, creating GP ‘super practices’ and widespread changes to A&E provisions.

The proposals for cuts have been revealed in part of a ‘Sustainability and Transformation Plan’ report to the council’s Health and Wellbeing Board, which show the measures that local health partnerships are preparing to take to meet central government’s demand for a balanced NHS budget.

The Greens have condemned these new revelations as “devastating,” and demand full and open public consultation on all of the proposed changes.

The disclosure of the report follows months of public pressure and calls from the Green Group to reveal the full plans, which they fear lay the foundations for the selling off of the NHS to eager private providers.

Cllr Dick Page
Cllr Dick Page

Councillor Dick Page, who sits on the Health and Wellbeing Board, says: “Finally we are starting to see the truth behind the plans to ‘transform’ the NHS. This report may be using lots of nice wording, but let’s be clear – the NHS are being told to cut their services by £60m. Greens fully condemn these plans and their political agenda.

“We are also concerned to see such little opposition from other local parties. In Liverpool and in Camden, Labour controlled councils have been swift to scrutinise and condemn these ‘STPs’ – but not so here. Sadly this proves that the NHS is not safe in Tory – or local Labour hands. We must keep pushing for more of these proposals to be revealed if we are to protect our key services, like hospital beds, A&E and GP surgeries.”

The Greens have called for a special meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to further examine the plans, to be held on December 7.

Cllr Daniel Yates
Cllr Daniel Yates

Cllr Daniel Yates, Labour Chair of Health and Wellbeing Board, said: Our local health and care services are needing all political parties to step forward and be an active part of the solution. We all know that better funding is part of that process. So is avoiding grandstanding. Its time our local green councillors took their responsibilities seriously rather than sitting on the sidelines sniping. Local residents deserve better and expect to see all councillors working hard to make safe and effective services their first priority.

“I’ve been working hard to get local transformation plans made public so that the city’s residents can have their say in whether the plans developed meet their needs I have little time left for finger pointing, hand wringing or blame games.

To read the full Central Sussex & East Surrey Alliance Place – Based Delivery Plan, click here:

More motorist fined for misuse of Blue Badges

Brighton & Hove City Council continues to work with Sussex Police and East Sussex County Council to enforce Blue Badge misuse, which is a criminal offence.

web-600As part of International Anti-Fraud Week from November 13-19, the Blue Badge team have been working with Sussex Police to target known offenders.

Since employing a dedicated Blue badge Investigator last year, the Council has prosecuted 91 offenders for Blue Badge misuse and 250 offenders have participated in their award-winning Community Resolution, 500 Blue Badges have also been destroyed as a result of enforcement.

Bank Manager, Hina Patel, of Cornford Close, Portslade was summoned to court for a second time on Wednesday, October 19 for misusing a blue badge, this time for a higher offence of ‘intent to deceive using a parking device, namely a Disabled Blue Badge.’

On October 19 Patel entered a not guilty plea and the case was adjourned. Mrs Patel has since changed her plea to guilty and has today been ordered to pay a £500 fine, £600 in costs and a £50 victim surcharge.

She had previously been prosecuted for misuse of a Blue Badge on May 15, 2015. She was fined £300, paid £350 costs and £30 victim surcharge.

 

Cllr Gill Mitchell
Cllr Gill Mitchell

Cllr Gill Mitchell, chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “These prosecutions send out a clear message that we are cracking down on blue badge misuse in the city.

“The blue badge scheme is intended to make sure parking spaces are available for people who genuinely need them. We will continue to work with Sussex Police and East Sussex County Council to ensure that people with disabilities can get to and enjoy everything Brighton & Hove has to offer.”

 

Brighton Sauna supports new HIV testing campaign

Over the last twelve months, the Brighton Sauna opposite the Royal Pavilion in central Brighton has been working closely with the Claude Nicol Centre and The Martin Fisher Foundation on sexual health initiatives in Brighton & Hove.

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The sauna will be taking part in their upcoming city-wide screening program to reduce undiagnosed HIV.

The campaign will run from Friday, November 18 to Sunday, November 27 and Brighton Sauna will be distributing self testing kits which you can use to test yourself for HIV in the sauna or take home with you to test in the comfort of your own home. It takes about 15 minutes to use and get a result from a self testing HIV kit which will be given out completely free of charge.

Sauna staff have been trained to give advice and will be distributing What to do next information leaflets throughout the period of the campaign.

To feedback after using a HIV home testing kit, click here:

Iconic AIDS Quilt to be displayed in London

An iconic quilt panel, commemorating the lives of those lost to the AIDS epidemic in the UK, will be displayed at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in London from November 30 – December 4.

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The display and a World AIDS Day Mass on Thursday, December 1 at 6pm are part of a series of London-wide events, forming an AIDS Quilt Trail across London. 

Seven churches of various denominations are among the community locations taking part, with the Church of the Immaculate Conception being the only Roman Catholic church involved.

The LGBT Catholic Westminster community is based at Farm Street, and its Beacon Music Group will accompany the World AIDS Day Mass on December 1. 

Martin Pendergast
Martin Pendergast

Martin Pendergast, a member of the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council and one of the first Catholics to develop HIV/AIDS support in the 1980’s, said: We’re delighted that Farm Street Church is hosting a part of the UK Names Quilt. The panels not only show the emotional and physical effects of AIDS at the beginning of the epidemic, but are also a huge part of social history, and a great reminder of how far we’ve come in the last 30 years as treatments have developed.” 

LGBT Catholics previously hosted sections of the UK Names Quilt at the Church of the Assumption, Warwick Street, during London’s 2012 World Pride. 

The Quilt Trail has been organised by a coalition of HIV/AIDS charities including the George House Trust, the Terrence Higgins Trust, Positive East, The Food Chain, Positively UK, and Sahir House, supported by the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The Quilts show how far the UK has come in the fight against HIV, no longer stopping people living with HIV from leading long and healthy lives.

Even so, there is still much to be done to tackle stigma and discrimination, prevent further transmission, and encourage diagnosis for the 1 in 6 people who are unaware they have the virus.


Event: Aids Quilt Display

Where: Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street Jesuit Church), 11 Mount Street, Mayfair, London

When: November 30 – December 4

For more information about LGBT Catholics Westminster, click here:

Hove MP tests for HIV ahead of National HIV Testing Week

Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove & Portslade, takes public HIV test to encourage more local people to test for the virus as National HIV Testing Week approaches.

Ben Bloom (left) and Peter Kyle MP
Ben Bloom (left) and Peter Kyle MP

He visited Terrence Higgins Trust’s (THT) Brighton office to have a simple finger-prick blood test. Peter’s negative result was delivered just 15 minutes after his test.

During the visit, Peter met volunteers and staff and discussed the importance of normalising testing and busting stigma. He was also briefed about local events in Brighton and Hove during National HIV Testing Week, starting on November 19.

Peter said: “It’s incredibly important to test regularly for HIV which is why I visited THT to raise awareness. As I found out today by taking a test – testing is free, fast and simple, and it’s one of the best weapons we have to stop the spread of HIV.”

THT in Brighton will be testing people at high risk of HIV, including men who have sex with men and black African people, at University of Sussex and LGBT youth groups, local bars, saunas and pubs, as well at the charity’s centre in Ship Street.

THT will be extending its opening hours in Brighton at 61 Ship St, for the week to 10am till 8pm from Monday November 21 till Friday November 25, and from 1.30 till 5pm on Saturday, November 26.

Ben Bloom
Ben Bloom

Ben Bloom, Community Engagement Coordinator at Terrence Higgins Trust in Brighton, said: “Peter Kyle MP showed just how quick and easy it is to be sure of your status by taking a public HIV test today – thank you.

“We’re providing more opportunities for local people here in Brighton to test by extending our opening times and having pop-up testing at local bars, pub and other community venues

“Today, if you test positive, effective treatment means you can live as long as anyone else, and when the amount of the virus in your blood is reduced to undetectable levels, this means you cannot pass on HIV. Testing puts you in control and is nothing to be feared.”

National HIV Testing Week, which runs from November 19-26, is run by Terrence Higgins Trust on behalf of HIV Prevention England. The week encourages people to take a painless, simple and quick test, particularly those most at-risk of HIV, including men who have sex with men and black African people.

Dr Christian Jessen
Dr Christian Jessen

Dr Christian Jessen, who is supporting National HIV Testing week said: “I’m a fervent champion of National HIV Testing Week.  I often find that people are really afraid of taking an HIV test – it can sound like a daunting prospect, but honestly it isn’t.  Testing puts you in control.

“One in six people living with HIV do not know they have it and are therefore likely to unwittingly pass on the virus. On the other hand, those who get a positive result and onto effective treatment can live a long and healthy life, and cannot pass on HIV to others. It’s a no brainer.

“The challenge is now to bust the stigma that stops people getting tested in the first place.  The sooner we can do that, the quicker we can stop HIV.”

THT in Brighton is based at 61 Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AE and provides support, information and advice, as well as HIV testing.

For more information about National HIV Testing Week, click here:

For more information about THT, click here:

Or telephone: 01273 764200.

 

International Men’s Day to highlight male suicide

If you’re male and poor you’re 10 times more likely to take your own life.

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This International Men’s Day, on November 19,Brighton, Hove and District Samaritans are calling on everyone in their communities to take their part in suicide prevention, particularly within the most at risk group, those who are socially disadvantaged.

Men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women and poorer men living in the poorest areas are ten times more likely to kill themselves than affluent men.

Reaching men in this group and tackling this inequality could have a huge impact on the number of people taking their own lives. Samaritans want this inequality to be tackled through local suicide prevention planning.

Daniel Cheesman
Daniel Cheesman

Brighton, Hove and District Samaritans director, Daniel Cheesman, said: “If you’re poor and male you are the most vulnerable to suicide. We need to see community based, multi-agency, targeted interventions offering support and messages that work for those at the greatest risk, to reduce the numbers of people taking their own lives. This is urgent. We are losing too many of our men to suicide and every single death is a tragedy that can wreak devastation in families and communities.”    

The momentum for tackling suicide has built during 2016 and seventy members of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance came together on World Suicide Prevention Day to tell men, ‘It’s Okay To Talk’.

Samaritans met with the Duke of Cambridge together with other key organisations to look at how to reduce suicide and was instrumental in the development of new guidance just released from Public Health England and NSPA to help Local Authorities with their suicide prevention planning.

Ruth Sutherland
Ruth Sutherland

Samaritans CEO, Ruth Sutherland, said: “Suicide has never been more part of the national conversation, but this isn’t enough. The sad truth is that we’re still not seeing deaths by suicide decreasing. We need to build on current momentum and make suicide prevention everybody’s business, in every community and stop people dying.”

This year International Men’s Day is highlighting the issue of male suicide.

Samaritans is calling on every local area to have a plan in place to reduce suicide amongst men, and all the other groups of people vulnerable to suicide.

Ruth continued: “The Government has said every council in the country needs to have a plan for preventing suicide, but shockingly many haven’t got started on one and those that have are often struggling to hold meetings and take action because of overstretched resources. In every local area, all the organisations who can play a part need to pull together. That includes health services, the police, community groups, and many others and tackle head on this biggest killer of men, under 50.”

Samaritans’ latest campaign, Local Action Saves Lives is asking individuals to email their local politicians to find our whether they are taking suicide prevention seriously.

Samaritans are available round the clock, every single day of the year. They provide a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.

Call 08457 90 90 90 or Brighton Hove and District Samaritans on 01273 738115.

For more information and to see what’s going in your area, click here:

For more information about male isolation and loneliness, click here:

More men with mental health issues commit suicide than women

Research reveals men struggle to cope with mental health problems, as new suicide data shows a huge male bias.

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New research published today shows the disproportionate impacts of mental health issues on men in the UK.

A report launched ahead of International Men’s Day by The Huffington Post UK and the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) reveals men are less likely than women to talk to anyone about being depressed, and more likely to exhibit risk-taking behaviour.

The findings as part of a report, called The Masculinity Audit 2016, come as new suicide statistics for the UK reveal a significant, ongoing male bias.

Ahead of the formal 2017 announcement, HuffPost UK and CALM have compiled full UK figures – to include Northern Ireland and Scotland as well as England and Wales – which confirm that 75% of UK suicides in 2015 were male. Suicide remains the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK.

Jane Powell
Jane Powell

Jane Powell, CEO of CALM, said: “Too many men are dying at their own hands, so we must look at this problem through a gendered lens. That’s why research like this is crucial. We’re not going to get any better at supporting men and saving lives unless we continue to build knowledge of what it means to be a man right now.”

The findings come from an in-depth survey that explores the state of modern masculinity, built on a comparative study carried out by CALM in 2014 and published as part of The Huffington Post UK’s month-long Building Modern Men initiative, which aims to highlight the pressures men face around identity and to raise awareness of the epidemic of suicide.

Stephen Hull
Stephen Hull

Stephen Hull, Editor in Chief of The Huffington Post UK, said: “Suicide among men is an epidemic that we are only starting to face up to. These figures show that we need to address and talk about mental health and wellbeing issues that impact on the lives of men. It is only by talking about issues and seeking out solutions that we can help give the vital support men need.”

The most alarming gender disparity in the report is that that whilst 67% of females who felt very depressed said they talked to someone about it, only 55% of males said the same.

Men were also much more likely than women to feel too embarrassed to talk about being depressed (30% compared to 21%), and less likely to call on friends to discuss the problem.

The report also shows that men are more likely to exhibit risk-taking behaviour, such as getting drunk, taking drugs, gambling excessively and driving too fast. Results also suggest that these behaviours are much more likely again in those who have felt depressed.

The full report shines a light on several interesting aspects about men in UK society in 2016, including pressures felt at work and at home, especially among fathers.

For instance, significantly more men feel pressure to be the breadwinner (31% compared to 19% of women) and suggest their partner would think less of them if they lost their job, whilst women’s responses suggest these worries are unwarranted (a quarter of men compared to 17% of women).

Other interesting findings reveal:

♦ 77% of men rated their job as very important or important to their self-esteem.

♦ Four out of ten males feel that they lack the qualities and abilities partners look for in a man, the main qualities and abilities they feel they are lacking in is physical attractiveness (26%), and confidence (26%), followed by financial dependability (20%) and security and stability (18%).

♦ Four out of ten male respondents strongly agreed that ‘women have unrealistic expectations of men’.
61% of all respondents agree that men are stereotyped in the media.

Vitality Brighton Half Marathon 2017

JustGiving announced as Official Online Giving Partner for HIV charity’s largest annual fundraiser.

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The owners of The Vitality Brighton Half Marathon, Brighton based HIV charity The Sussex Beacon, have announced JustGiving as the Official Online Giving Partner for the 2017 race which will take place on Sunday, February 26.

As both organiser of the race and the headline charity, The Sussex Beacon recognises JustGiving as a perfect match for The Vitality Brighton Half Marathon, given its impressive track record in helping charity partners at events to achieve significantly higher levels of fundraising.

With a 27-year legacy as one of the longest established and most popular city centre road racing events in the UK, The Vitality Brighton Half Marathon has always been an important platform for charity fundraising.

In 2016 alone, over 3,000 charity place runners raised over £1 million for 50 different charity partners.

With a record number of places on sale for the 2017 race, The Brighton Half Marathon sold out at the end of September. Runners wishing to take part can only access the race now through one of the official charity partners.

David Hill
David Hill

David Hill, Vitality Brighton Half Marathon Event Manager, said: “We are delighted to have partnered with the world’s leading online fundraising platform, JustGiving, for the 2017 Vitality Brighton Half Marathon. We both have a shared ambition to maximise overall charity fundraising, and to increase the proportion of reserved charity places at our event.

“As a charity ourselves, our charity partners are always at the heart of this event and with JustGiving’ s help we hope to smash all previous fundraising records for the 2017 race.”

Keith Williams, General Manager at JustGiving, added: “JustGiving is delighted to be partnering with the Vitality Brighton Half Marathon to guarantee it raises even more for good causes in 2017. We look forward to maximizing fundraising opportunities for all runners by providing a raft of resources, such as fundraising guides, event tips and encouragement as they progress towards the big day together. JustGiving is committed to using the best the web has to offer to help all good causes raise even more money and change more lives.”

JustGiving launched in February 2001 to help people support the causes they care about more easily. Fifteen years on, more than £3 billion has been raised for good causes on JustGiving, £1.5 billion of which has been in the last four years.

The Vitality Brighton Half Marathon starts from Brighton seafront between Brighton Pier and Brighton Marina. The race attracts massive crowd support each year to its iconic fast, flat course which is ideal for beginners and charity runners as well as athletes looking for a PB. Each year the race welcomes a strong British elite field and many celebrities who are attracted by the stunning setting, fantastic crowd support and the promise of a fast finishing time.

 

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