Third Meeting November 07

1. Introductions- everyone introduced themselves and spoke about one service they had found helpful after hospital.

2. We went briefly over the note from the previous meeting.

3. The Next Step. In pairs we discussed what the next step leading on from what we have done already could be. We wrote ideas on post its and these have. We grouped these ideas together and these grouped ideas together have formed the main part of the notes for the meeting. We discussed the ideas as we laid them out.

Ideas of the service user forum which took place on Friday the 16th of November:

Make links

· Use different support groups

· Use different Hospitals

· Create Links with Hospitals/support groups

Visits to Hospital

· Get relatives of people in hospital to attend Headway

· Get involved with hospital visits

· Talk to social work and local authorities

· Speak to brain injured client before they leave hospital to let them know what help out there for them

· Arrange meetings with hospitals to ensure correct discharge procedure, so no one leaves hospital with nothing

· Motivate others

Hold an event

· Get a Public figure to host or person to sponsor

· To raise awareness, notify others of needs

· Invite those who can instigate change

· Have an event that public can attend

· Well publicised in Glasgow City Centre

Other ideas

· Keep a notebook or diary to record the problem arisen

· Complain

· Inform NHS

Lobby Government and Hospital

· Hold meetings with certain people /groups to back what the brain injured party has to say

· Lobby politicians such as councillors, mp’s etc

· Letters to local and national press

· Approach politicians who have the responsibility for health

· Approach the management of individual organisations

· Approach clinicians (working with people with ABI)

· Inform the government

· Contact MSP’s to help- with a proforma letter with the main points or list of priorities. Each person could give a personal story of how they were treated.

· Tell your GP and MP about the problems and ask for their professional help.

· Lobby different policy groups

· During ABI awareness Week have an ABI related petition delivered to Parliament (NB ABI Awareness week is 31^st March- 6^th April)

· Circulate copys of letters to List MSPs as well as you specific MSP- this encourages action.

· Use the councillors pigeon hole system to distribute information.

· Work out what MSP’s represent those people who attend the Service User Forum.

· Hold meetings with certain people or groups with information to back up what we have to say to them.

Written info for discharge

· Prepare booklets about head Injury, after care and what is available

· Ensure there is a policy to give future info on services etc for individuals and families and carers.

· Have a one stop shop

· A Data Base that NHS use between services

· People with ABI should be tracked and followed up- on Database

· When handing out packs- who should get them and at what stage? It would need to be timed to be useful (or given to the right person)

· Make a specific booklet that could be sent out to PDRU called “are you looking after someone coming out of hospital?”

Generate public awareness

· Have a service user website with a page of contacts within the glasgow area- to tell their story and who has helped them.

· Write a story for local newspapers e.g. the Herald and Evening Times about the matter

· Advertise in Hospital Magazines

· Have a PR Campaign

· Address the problem of confusion of the effects of Alcohol and Brain Injury

· Address the fact that people with epilepsy or ABI are not alcoholics or drug addicts

· Publicise like the SEE ME campaign to change public attitudes towards ABI.

· Do an advert

· Make a video with this group

· Email – newspapers, councillors, mps, tv, media

· Get your voice heard contact the right people

· Make people aware of brain injury

4. A sub group (David T, Alan A, Neill and Simon) was quickly set up to draft a letter to MSP’s with one of the ideas- about hospital discharge information packs. The reasoning behind this is to get the group to move towards action. Please see a copy of the draft letter attached.