In this edition we cover a range of issues, including the planned closures of care homes in Northern Ireland, a profile of Audrey Simpson of the Family Planning Association and why Ulster Unionist MLA Joanne Dobson is campaigning to get more people to join the organ transplant register

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1. Describe the nature of your role.

My role is to deliver FPA’s strategic plan to promote sexual health to all ages throughout the UK and importantly to ensure that sexual health becomes a priority on the political health agenda.

2. What are the main challenges?

Like most charities throughout the UK, in today’s economic climate it is diminishing financial support from government. Unlike many other charities FPA is not ‘sexy’ so it can’t go down the traditional route of fundraising from the general public and corporates.

3. Are the FPA’s priorities in Britain different from those in Northern Ireland?

There are similarities such as improving relationship and sexuality education for young people, protecting services from cuts, advocating for the right of people with learning disabilities to express their sexuality safely and without fear of oppression. But of course the major difference is access to abortion services.

4. Why is it vital that women in Northern Ireland have access to abortion services?

For very personal reasons, at some stage in their lives, some women will choose to end their pregnancy. This is not a new phenomenon. It astounds me that some politicians (thankfully not all) refuse to accept this and continue to draconically restrict access to abortion services in Northern Ireland. As well as a health issue it is an equality issue.

5. How does Northern Ireland’s current abortion law impact on women?

They are forced to leave their own country to access a health care service available in the rest of the UK so psychologically it makes some feel like criminals and guilty about what they are doing. However, most feel very angry at being placed in this situation because of the failure of politicians to recognise their right to this health care service. Because they are not entitled to an NHS abortion in Britain they have within a short period of time to raise between £600 to £2,000 depending on the gestation of the pregnancy. This is only the tip of the iceberg of the potential impact.

6. You were at the forefront of a long campaign to force the Department of Health to clarify the law on abortion in Northern Ireland. Will the draft guidelines on abortion currently out for consultation achieve this?

The legal challenge succeeded in clarifying the law but what the guidelines do not do is provide clear direction as to how the law should be interpreted.

7. What are your views on the proposed changes to abortion law in the Republic – the Bill for the Protection of Life During Pregnancy?

The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar clearly exposed how the life of a pregnant woman was secondary to the life of a foetus. This must never happen again and the Irish government has to introduce unambiguous legislation to ensure that it doesn’t. It remains to be seen that this Bill will deliver that.

8. What do you think of the sex and relationship education young people are getting in our schools?

Interestingly it is statutory in the curriculum in Northern Ireland but not in England. FPA’s work with young people in the community reveals that some schools have good programmes but others are mediocre. Ironically all young people will probably be taught Pythagoras’ theorem but will rarely use it in their adult life, whereas sex and relationships are endemic in everyone’s life.

9. How concerned are you about the impact cuts to NHS budgets will have on the provision of sexual health services?

Often sexual health services are regarded an easy option to cut as they will be less controversial than, for example, reducing opening hours of an A&E department. But it is incredibly short sighted. Recently FPA and Brook commissioned an independent UK wide report on the financial implications of cuts to contraceptive and sexual health services and the results were startling. The inevitable outcome will be increased numbers of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

10. What are the most rewarding aspects of your work?

In Northern Ireland we provide community based personal development sexual health education projects for young people, parents and people with learning disabilities. It is incredibly rewarding to see the impact of this work, not just with regard to sexual health issues, but on the confidence levels and interpersonal skills of the participants. It is also very rewarding to support women and their families who come to us with an unplanned or crisis pregnancy.

11. How do you relax outside of work?

Spending time with my family in Belfast and Texas. I also enjoy watching sport and go to Ulster rugby games and when I can to Manchester to watch the best team in the world, Manchester United.

Over the last month, it has been impossible to ignore the debacle over the closure of care homes for older people.

Three of Northern Ireland’s health trusts – the northern, western and southern – announced in quick succession that all their NHS care homes would close. The news caused great shock and distress to residents and their families, many of whom complained that they had not been consulted.

After a public outcry, Health Minister Edwin Poots was forced into an embarrassing U-turn.

The closures will now be handled by the Health and Social Care Board instead of the trusts.

But whatever the spin, 50% of homes will still close as part of the Transforming Your Care policy. Mr Poots has admitted that the policy has not changed, merely that the implementation of the policy has.

In this issue of View, journalist Una Murphy reports on plans for older people from Northern Ireland to raise the matter at the National Pensioners Convention in Blackpool next month. Campaigners say they will not be silenced.

We also hear the views of Patricia McKeown, Regional Secretary of UNISON NI, who says Mr Poots should stop crying “crocodile tears” over the care homes issue.

Duane Farrell, Director of Policy at Age NI, argues that the care system, of which NHS homes are just one strand, is not fit for purpose. He says we now have an opportunity to create a system that respects the dignity, independence and individual needs of older people. But he says the voices of older people must be at the forefront of any change process – which they clearly haven’t been over the past few weeks.

Elsewhere, we hear the story of Ulster Unionist MLA Joanne Dobson’s attempt to change the law to increase organ donations. She tells how she was inspired by her youngest son Mark who had to have a kidney transplant aged 15. Now she is bringing a Private Members’ Bill before the Assembly which would change the law to allow organ donations unless the person decides to opt out.

Plans to axe state run residential care homes in Northern Ireland will be raised in ‘Pensioners Parliaments’ in Belfast and Blackpool over coming weeks, VIEW can reveal.

Pensioners are demanding more respect and for their voices to be heard on the issue of social care for older people in Northern Ireland, according to campaigners. Angela Ley, secretary of Unite Retired Members in Northern Ireland, said the matter will be raised at the National Pensioners Convention – the biggest pensioners’ organisation in the UK – in Blackpool next month.

“Older people need to be treated with more respect and politicians need to listen to what we’re saying,” she said. “We live now in a sort of one person society and a lot of older people don’t have anyone in their immediate family to turn to – with sons and daughters living away – and they can’t look after themselves. “The quality of life of some older people is badly affected if there is no consistency in the care provided to them. If is very difficult for older people when carers give them their meals at peculiar times and get them ready for bed at five or six o’clock in the evening.”

Margaret Galloway, chair of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions retired members committee, said: “Government ministers and civil servants must listen to the voice and take action on what the older people have said.

“Personally I would want care homes to be state run but if they are to be privatised I would prefer charities and other not-for-profit organisations running the homes rather than private companies,” she added.

The Northern Ireland Pensioners Parliament will debate the issue at the end of May.

Jimmy Nixon, a member of the Northern Ireland Age Sector Platform health committee, said: “My big fear is that we’re going to finish up eventually like the USA and ‘if you don’t have you don’t get’ when it comes to health and social care. “I think the health service is being changed to make it easier for private operators to move in.”

The chair of the Age Sector Platform Patricia Donald said: “Older people’s voices must be at the heart of any changes.” She expects civil servants to have a “challenging” exchange with the 200 pensioners attending the Northern Ireland Pensioners Parliament. Ms Donald said that has been much heated discussion on the reform of the health service by older people in contact with the Age Sector Parliament.

“Older people are concerned about the impact that these changes will have for them as they grow older and remain unconvinced that the resources are in place to achieve what is planned. “The recent announcements regarding the closure of care homes and the subsequent reaction has emphasised the need for proper consultation with older people regarding any changes to the health and social care service,” she said.

The political scramble for cover as a result of public outrage over the closure of our NHS residential homes is sickening.

Minister Poots passes the blame to Trusts. The First and Deputy First Ministers back Poots’ privatisation plans and blame the Health Department.

Compton passes the buck back to Poots and MLAs point the finger at Trusts.

The decision to withdraw from NHS residential care provision means that someone is making a profit. UNISON is asking: Who is in charge of this government? Who is influencing its decisions to privatise health and social care? Who is profiting from these decisions? For how much longer can we tolerate government ministers and senior health officials withholding the truth or telling outright lies?

UNISON’s starting point is the rights of older, vulnerable people in our society. The Health Minister has stated that there was evidence that there would be no adverse health impact on residents as a result of his policies of closure and relocation. The Department of Health said it could not find the evidence.

John Compton said no evidence existed. UNISON presents the widely available UK and international evidence that this involuntary transfer of older people can in fact create problems of mental and physical health and even bring premature death.

The evidence on the health effects, including mortality, of involuntary transfer has been produced by leading authorities such as Professor David Jolley a Consultant in the Psychiatry of Old Age. In Jackson vs Lancashire County Council Professor Jolley was instructed as a Court appointed witness.

In his Report Professor Jolley says: “From common experience, from my clinical experience, and from an informed review of the literature, it is an inescapable truism that relocation is a stressful event and can precipitate problems of mental health, physical health and even bring forth death.”

Instead of crying crocodile tears the Health Minister should stand down and leave the guardianship of our National Health Service to those who believe in its guiding principles – publicly owned and delivered and free at the point of need. We are challenging our politicians and our political parties to state where they stand on the future of the NHS. We are challenging them to be honest about the real impact of the massive budget cuts in health.

Mark was diagnosed at five weeks old with having severe reflux of both kidneys.

By that stage his right kidney had gone completely, and his left kidney was only working 19 per cent.

So we spent the first years of his life at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children.

Then when he turned 13, and he started to grow, his kidneys started to shut down. We always knew the day would come when he would need a kidney transplant, but nothing prepares you for sitting in the consultant’s waiting room when they tell you your child has two years at most before he needs to go on a transplant list.

Mark was exhausted just walking a few yards, but he’s always had a terrific attitude – he never, ever said ‘why me?’ Mark waited ten months for a suitable organ so he was fifteen when he had his transplant. I was halfway through being tested for a live donor programme.

Because of the chronic shortage of organs, this is happening more and more – and you’d do anything for your child. We were very fortunate – he got his transplant. But people don’t realise that’s not the end of the story. Because he was so young, in all likelihood he will need another, in fact, he will need possibly three transplants in his life. Mark’s consultant put it very aptly, she said: “Mark’s lucky, he’s got his transplant, but you’re money in the bank, your kidney might be used at some stage in the future”.

Mark and I got involved early on to promote organ donation. We do a lot of fund raising, and also increasingly Mark and I would be asked to talk to people – because we’ve come through that experience, we know what it’s like to be given that diagnosis that you’re in end-stage renal failure.

Mark was a shadow of himself before his transplant. He couldn’t walk, he could hardly move, he was basically dying in front of us. Now he has such a fulfilling life. He volunteers in my office and farms with his Dad. He’s up at six to feed the animals and then a quick shower and out with me. If people could see the difference a transplant makes I think they wouldn’t hesitate to sign up for the organ donor register. But the problem is many just don’t get round to it. Now I am bringing forward a Private Members’ Bill at the Assembly to change the law so that everyone is automatically put on the register, unless they choose to opt out. The next step is to consult with as many people as possible, starting in June, and anyone will be able to access the consultation document on my Twitter account @JoAnne_Dobson. I would say to anyone considering donating organs, think of the difference it could make. I know if you’ve lost a loved one you are going through a very traumatic experience. But if you could see that through your loss you’re allowing maybe five people to live, it means the death of your loved one hasn’t been in vain.

Image: Presseye.com Belfast

If you would like your community/ voluntary organisation to be selected for The Big Picture in the next issue of VIEW, send images, marked ‘big picture entry’, to editorial@viewdigital.org

Image: Kevin Cooper

By Willis McBriar

A shared cultural space offering urban sports including BMXing, skateboarding, micro-scootering, rollerblading and free running is helping to break down the barriers between young people in Belfast.

T13, a vast multi-use venue housed in an old shipbuilding warehouse in the Titanic Quarter, is the culmination of years of hard work by Matt Gillespie, his fellow directors and Belfast Urban Sports.

Now it draws young people from across Northern Ireland with cutting edge urban sports facilities in a vibrant, safe and supported environment. Classes and workshops, partially funded by Peace III money, provide training and buzz for up to 60 kids a night.

Matt, who has competed at the highest level in the BMX World Championships, says T13 provides a neutral meeting ground for young people, who come from both communities. “Because urban sports have a lack of heritage that means nobody owns them. It is not a Protestant sport, it is not a Catholic sport, it doesn’t have an emblem, it is not attached to a flag,” he says.

“So whenever we have young people in the building, from say Strandtown Primary School in east Belfast and St Patrick’s College, Bearnageeha in north Belfast, they come down and they don’t necessarily know that they are there at the same time. Jonty doesn’t know that he is learning BMX with Donal – all they know is that they are in the same place at the same time, doing the same thing and they are going to have that good experience.”

Matt says the classes, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, also break down traditional gender stereotypes.

“Girls do exceptionally well at it. Because they have never tried it before, they are much more willing to listen to the instructions. “So they will pick up the technique quicker than the boys who will have seen a BMX before, think they know what it is, get in there and show off.”

• See www.t13.tv for more information.

An organisation that provides vital services to the homeless has reopened following an arson attack that gutted its west Belfast drop-in centre.

The Welcome Centre’s premises off the Falls Road were badly damaged in the overnight blaze in January. The organisation’s files and valuable equipment including computers and furniture were destroyed. The charity had been due to relocate to a new centre in Northumberland Street, but the fire meant staff and volunteers had to move in immediately to keep the service going.

Director Sandra Moore said: “There was an awful lot of work that had to be done very suddenly but in true Welcome Organisation style and in our supporters’ style, we opened the doors and everybody just got stuck in. “By 8.30am on the morning of the fire, people were serving tea and toast in the new drop-in centre.” Sandra said staff, volunteers, clients, members of the public and other voluntary organisations donated necessities and helped get the new centre up and running. “

We couldn’t have done it without the good will and support of so many,” she said. The new, larger centre means the organisation is able to help 30 per cent more people than was possible in the old building. Now the charity supports around 100 people a day, offering food, clothing, hot showers, as well as advice and support. Sandra said the fire, although devastating, allowed clients to take ownership of the new centre.

“I always had a concern about how people would fit into the new centre which is much more spacious than where we were previously in. “However, on the morning of the fire, the clients all took on tasks – they were cleaning the new centre and sorting out furniture and food as it came in – so it gave the clients ownership from the start, which was absolutely tremendous.”

She added: “I would suggest clients actually feel more valued now because of the way in which the community rallied around them, and were so supportive of what we were doing.” Now it is onwards and upwards for the rejuvenated service. “We’re moving on fast and the next stage will be to engage with the clients and see what additional services they would like.

“We certainly have more space to deliver training and social activities – just broaden the whole range of what we can offer, and indeed offer other community organisations working in this area.”

I’ve been reflecting on the lessons learned, as you would expect any trainer familiar with the Kolb learning cycle to do. One of the problems we faced was that the editing technology we used, Wevideo, depends on a fast broadband connection. It was probably a bit much to expect a 12 person workshop, all using broadband at once, to be plain sailing.

Still, I made a connection between this experience and John Naughton’s wonderful article on disruptive technology.

“But for those who have followed the work of Harvard scholar Clayton Christensen over the years, the sheer crudity of the printed object is what rings bells because it evokes the possibility of disruptive change. Christensen is famous for his pioneering studies of industrial innovation. What he wanted to understand is why big and successful companies are so often destroyed or humbled by new technologies whose significance they fail to appreciate.”

Wevideo is certainly a disruptive technology.  With it you can learn the basics of video editing for nothing, zero, free.  As long as you have fast broadband.  It is a bit rough around the edges, but that is part of the charm.

Secondly, I read this article about creativity by Sir Ken Robinson.  Here is the killer paragraph:

“The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.”

So what did I learn from all this?

If you think something is a great idea, get it out there, rough or not.

People learn about something because they see their skills growing.

Get in there and comment…