The Welcome Party
We can not let the Olympics go by without making our guests welcome and having some fun ourselves!
So we are planning The Welcome Party!
We will be running workshops to make some bunting, and do some knitting. With the bunting we will decorate our streets in welcome and with the knitting, people will be making jerseys with our own special logo to sell to our visitors.
Get involved, do!
We will post up dates for the workshops, which will be held in different community venues locally over the next 6 months.
Workshop dates - Bunting making and knitting
Drop-in anytime
| Date | Time | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29/02/2012 | 2:00pm - 7:30pm | SAfH Hackney Office,Ment House, Unit A, 1st Floor, 1B Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3DQ | |
| 29/03/2012 | 2:00pm - 7:30pm | SAfH Hackney Office,Ment House, Unit A, 1st Floor, 1B Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3DQ |
Polish Playgroup
Social Action for Health and Millfields Children’s Centre invite Polish parents with young children to weekly meetings with Polish games and songs.
DATES:
Every Tuesday @ 10.00am-12.00 pm
VENUE:
Millfields Children’s Centre
Hilsea Street, Hackney, London E5 OSH
For more information please contact:
Millfields Children’s Centre 0208 985 7898
or Social Action for Health - Anna
07969 023 218 / annaw@safh.org.uk
Parents & Toddlers Cooking Classes
Social Action for Health invites local parents with children aged 2- 4 to join our free cooking classes starting in February.
DATES:
Following Wednesdays at 10.30am:
1st Feb, 8th Feb, 15th Feb, 22nd Feb,
14th March & 21st March.
VENUE:
Nye Bevan Community Hall
(next to 107 Nye Bevan Estate, E5 0AH)
For more information please contact Anna 07969 023 218 or e-mail annaw@safh.org.uk.
SAfH highlights the impact of benefit cuts in Hackney and Tower Hamlets and asks politicians to Try Being in My Shoes
This week Social Action for Health (SAfH) launched a report called Try Being in My Shoes highlighting the impact of the benefit cuts on local people living in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.
The report captures stories of local people who have attended advice sessions within GP surgeries around benefits changes. In particular the report focuses on claimants with long-term health conditions and disabilities who have experienced a Work Capability Assessment undertaken by the private sector organisation Atos Healthcare, to see if they are eligible for Employment Support Allowance (ESA).
Shockingly 40% of claimants that dispute the decision made on their benefits entitlements are found to be successful on appeal and have their decision overturned. The report details the negative effects of a flawed assessment process which is causing distress to claimants who unnecessarily go into debt, only to have their benefits reinstated sometimes as late as 8 months later.
Diane Abbott MP the keynote speaker for the event stressed that these findings were just the beginning and that we were yet to see the cumulative effects of changes in public health, cuts in services and further welfare reforms.
More than 80 representatives from Hackney and Tower Hamlet’s organisations attended the event in Hackney at St Joseph’s Hospice. Elizabeth Bayliss Chief Executive of Social Action for Health said:
“This event has highlighted the passion and commitment from the voluntary and community sector to ensure that the plight of our most vulnerable members in society is brought to the attention of the government and local decision makers. Try Being in My Shoes is the beginning of advice agencies working across Hackney and Tower Hamlets to provide a co-ordinated picture of the effects of welfare reforms on local people as they cut ever deeper. In a time of scarce resources our commitment is to continue to highlight the impact on local people and look at the ways which organisations can support one another to continue this work”.
Download
You can download a copy of the report by clicking on this link:
(Document will open in a new window)
Cancer and early treatment
Why do more people die of cancer at a younger age in east London than west London?
This is the question Social Action for Health was asked to look into by the Department of Health. After listening to local people and to local health professionals, SAfH came up with some answers and some suggestions about changing the situation.
More than 100 local people from marginalized communities (Somali, Bengali, Turkish/Kurdish, African-Caribbean and Vietnamese), who had participated in the project joined SAfH and local health decision makers at the launch of their report on Thursday 16th June 2011 in St. Mungo’s Homeless Hostel, Mare Street to tell their stories and find out what to do next.
The launch was a great success, with lots going on for all. owing to the interactive nature of the event, as well as a real interest in the findings that were presented.
The main findings were:
- local people need to be prepared when they go to the doctor to present their symptoms clearly (tell the doctor if you have had a cough for more than 3 weeks)
- local people need to be more active in the consultation with the doctor, directly asking to be examined or to be referred if they are worried (don’t wait for the doctor to ask you questions but go prepared with a description of the problem)
- local doctors are at a disadvantage if they do not have a continuing relationship with individual patients because they will not be able to spot physical changes in a patient, such as loss of weight.
- local doctors need to feel able to refer a patient for specialist investigation easily and simply. And the new cancer hospital in Barts is keen to open its doors to receive referrals.
SAfH Health Guides have been trained to teach local people how to be more direct and assertive in consultations and to encourage doctors to refer people for investigations earlier.
Importantly, the report makes it clear that the situation is a two sided coin that can not be separated: it is not simply that local people present symptoms late to their GP: it is also that GPs are not hearing people’s call for help early enough and are not referring people on for tests quickly enough.
SAfH is pleased to report that one half of the learning we have done on this Cancer early diagnosis project will immediately be implemented in 3 east London boroughs: Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Hackney.
In each of these boroughs, SAfH will be running community sessions to teach people about the symptoms of cancer and how to take more control of the consultation process with their GP.
SAfH is hoping the NHS will be taking forward the other half of the learning, in supporting health care professionals to respond quickly, making referrals for investigations more confidently, in the light of the establishment of the new Cancer Centre at Barts.
Mayor of Tower Hamlets supports My Weigh Programme
Lutfur Rahman, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, visited the Tarling community centre to meet some of the participants and mentors of the My Weigh Programme and to launch the My Weigh Badminton League in the Borough. The Mayor addressed a group of over 100 local people and said, “I am very pleased to hear about this Programme which is very important for our residents and fully support its aims. I look forward to the Badminton Tournament in September.”
My Weigh is a free programme for adults aged 19+ who live in Tower Hamlets and want to lose weight and get active. It includes advice about healthy eating, a range of physical activities and motivational coaching. Sessions are run at various venues around the borough in English, Bengali and Somali, and male-only, female-only or mixed groups are available.
My Weigh is delivered by a partnership between Social Action for Health and the Bromley by Bow Centre and is funded by NHS Tower Hamlets. “ We are very pleased to be part of this Partnership and our GP’s are very supportive of this Programme ” said Ruth Roberts, Manager from My Weigh at Bromley by Bow.
Dr Somen Banerjee Joint Director of Tower Hamlets Public Health
“We are very pleased with how this programme is going and are encouraged by so many people making changes to their behaviour in order to live a longer and healthier life”
Elizabeth Bayliss, Chief Executive of Social Action adds: “This programme shows people in easy steps how they can make a difference to their lives to achieve a healthier lifestyle. We are pleased that just over 600 local residents have attended the Programme since January this year and there has been a total weight loss of 50kg!”
For more information about the My Weigh programme, please email info@myweigh.org.uk or call 020 8980 6440 or visit http://myweigh.org.uk for more information.
Social Action for Health offers to act as Lead Agency to bid for the Community Advocacy Services in Hackney
Social Action for Health hosted two seminars in April and May with the aim of bringing together a range of current and potential advocacy providers to discuss developments in Advocacy services in Hackney.
This was in preparation for the Community Advocacy Services Commissioning. The Local Authority intends to commission one lead agency for Community Advocacy Services and one for Carers support. Social Action for Health with its years of expertise in forming and managing consortiums has offered to work with local providers in forming a consortium able to bid for this contract and to take on the ‘lead agency’ role for this process.
No alternative proposals to lead were put forward as a result of a consultation process, carried out by the Health and Social Care Forum. Social Action for Health has, therefore, agreed to go ahead with the plan to form a consortium and prepare a bid to the Council. Work is now underway to set up the Advocacy Consortium that will cater for all sections of the community. For more information please contact Andy Benson on info@penandy.co.uk or 0208 800 7509.
End of Life
Few years ago people from different religions used to worry about their death and the rituals that follow that. Now they have services appropriate to them. This video lights on what people think about their death and the available services.
For archieved news and updates please click here
Patient Network
SAfH is hosting an online forum for the self-management patients and trying to continue the support to the people with long-term conditions. Please click here to access the forum.
My Weigh Programme
My Weigh programme has officially been launched on the 9th December 2010 at Bromley by Bow Centre. My Weigh is a free one year programme that includes healthy eating, physical activity and motivational coaching, delivered across Tower Hamlets. For more information please visit myweigh.org.uk.
SAfH Cotton Bag
How about purchasing a SAfH bag as a gift instead of using a carrier bag only £1.50 includes P&P. If you would like to buy this bag, email Pauline (paulinef@safh.org.uk) or call 020 7426 5370.
Hackney Meeting Room for Hire
If you are looking for a space to arrange your meeting or events in Hackney then SAfH Hackney Office could be your possible option. Please click here to read more.
Become a proud member of SAfH
we would love you to become a member of Safh. You can download a form by clicking here or complete an online form by clicking here.
Join us on Facebook
SAfH is now on Facebook to keep you updated about our events and other activities all the time. So click here to join us on Facebook.
SAfH Reports
Are you looking for a specific SAfH Report? Then click here to go to SAfH Reports section.
Social Action for Health