Meeting 6th June, 10am-12pm, LGBT Howe Street, Edinburgh.
Attendees: Maruska Greenwood (LGBT Health), Catriona Windle (Health All Round), Iain Stewart
(Edinburgh Community Food), Leah Kalaitzi (Deaf Action), Cathrin Griffiths (Thistle Foundation),
Laura Plumb (Link Up Woman’s Support), Fiona Cross (The Ripple), Charlie Cumming (ELGT), Susan
Paxton (CHEX), Jon Bushy (The Welcoming Association), Suzanne Campbell (The Junction), Lucy
Aitchison (Broomhouse Health Strategy Group), Krysztof Nowak (Health in Mind), Helena Richards
(Carr Gomm), Stephanie-Anne Harris (LCHIF), Grace Mackenzie (LCHIF)
Apologies: Mitra Rotami (Bright Choices), Brock Lueck (One parent Families), Anne Munro (Pilmeny),
Ruth Maclennan (Care for Carers), Marion Findlay (Volunteer Edinburgh), Bridie Ashrowan
(Broomhouse centre), Helen Scammell (Pilton Community Health Project)
1. Previous Minutes
Follow up on reception staff training is required (SA)
2. Staff changes
Ian Stewart introduced Grace Mackenzie, new to the post of Forum Development Worker, to the
group.
3. The National Perspective
The Forum has invited a CHEX representative to the meetings on a regular basis to share a
national focus. This month, Susan Paxton was present and firstly thanked MG for chairing the
recent ‘Power and Inequalities Conference’ and IS for presenting his workshop on the ‘Power of
Networks’; which identified the Forum as a case study and was very well received.
In April, as part of a refresh of NHS Scotland’s 5 year Corporate Strategy, Community Health
Initiatives (CHI’s) were asked for feedback via focus groups and an online survey. Some
highlights were:
 41% felt that CHI’s were recognised nationally; whilst only 18% of respondents felt that
efforts were recognised locally
 Engagement between Health and Social Care partnerships was felt to be poor.
Organisations had not been invited to locality planning meetings, or were simply not aware
of them
 87% felt that a repository of ‘evidence’ such as case studies which could be used as funding
justification would be useful
 86% felt a common statement would be useful
 Lack of resource was highlighted as a major issue. 58% had worse finances than the previous
year, 38% were stable and only 1% improved; whilst 86% reported an increase in demand.
 86% are limited to one year funding only
SP welcomed any feedback on these findings, particularly if anything had been omitted.
The challenge with locality planning in terms of wider geography was highlighted by MG of LGBT.
This is always an issue for equality organisations. Some discussion was had in terms of solutions.
Overwhelmingly it was felt that often timeframes were too short for activities to be carried out
effectively; nor was engagement sought on a consistent basis. Many areas don’t know who their
representative is or if they have one, such is the case in the Restalrig / Craigentinny area. Staff
changes are making things very challenging.
SP acknowledged that progress was happening albeit slowly. Processes, integration and new
staff were still bedding in right across the country. The scoping work is all available on the
website here: http://3rdsectorteam.alliance-scotland.org.uk/
The recent Care Inspectorate and health Care Scotland report on Older peoples Services in
Edinburgh was quite critical of the work of the IJB in relation to partnership working and
prevention (see here: Older People Report). SA briefly discussed the need to shift the focus to
preventative spend and the role of the voluntary sector. Case studies are fantastic but more
financial based evaluation would be even stronger.
CW gave the example of their evaluation pre/post their counselling and anxiety management
services. There may be other similar reporting used within other organisations which may be
useful to analyse.
SP highlighted the potential use of ‘participation requests’ (Community Empowerment Act
legislation) by the voluntary sector as possible way of ensuring engagement with the statutory
sector for our work.
4. Current issues
SA asked the group to provide their ideas as to how the Forum team could best support them.
The common themes were around:
 Communication
 Visibility
 Training
 Evaluation
 Funding
 Strategy
 Service Overlap
The Forum Team will send out a questionnaire to gain more detail around each of these areas.
5. Forthcoming training
The next training event is ‘Having Difficult Conversations’ provided by ACAS on 15th June. GM to
send reminder.
No more training is scheduled. A training audit is to be carried out. Two suggestions were for
Emergency First Aid at Work and Assist training (suicide prevention).
6. Members News
CW has a vacancy for a Befriending and Development Worker closing on 16th June. HR is
recruiting for Men’s Shed. GM to circulate.
At the end of March CC secured one year partnership funding with ECF and has recruited a
‘Healthy Lifestyle Officer.’
MG reports that the Mental Welfare Commission have published a guide in conjunction with
LGBT on specific LGBT mental health issues. It has been widely distributed and can be found on
the website here:
http://www.mwcscot.org.uk/media/356012/lgbt_inclusive_mental_health_services.pdf
JK has found that funding for her work at Deaf Actions is ending, so she is looking for ways to
partner with others. SA to investigate this.
LA fed back on their recent successful event ‘Saturday Chat’ in South West Edinburgh which
allowed local GPs to consult with the third sector for a day of activities. Run in collaboration with
Napier; a full output from the day will be available soon.
7. AGM
Next AGM is on 29th August. SA has invited Dr Margaret Hannah, author of ‘Humanising the
Healthcare System.’ A suggestion was made for SA to invite Maureen Childs also.
8. Take and Make Meals (ECF)
Karen from ECF was a guest speaker to present the latest ‘Take and Make Meals’ initiative. They
would particularly welcome any feedback with regards to suitable outlets to reach the wider
community level. More information can be found here:
http://www.edinburghcommunitycafes.org.uk/take--make-diy-meals.html
9. Next Meeting
5th September, 10.00am
LGBT Health and Well Being
9 Howe Street Edinburgh