BSMHD Newletter March 2006

• 2006 BSMHD Annual Conference Newcastle
• Next BSMHD meeting – Preston 28 March 2006
• Towards Equity and Access Implementation Panel
• ESMHD Special Interest Group Meeting – September 2006
• Welsh Mental Health Reference Group
• East Anglia Working Group on Mental Health and Deafness
• Research into feasibility of additional phone relay services
• Noise at Work Regulations 2005
• Deafskills 06 – 2-3 June 2006
• A Spotlight on Welfare Reform: Breaking down the barriers to Work - 29 March 2006

2006 BSMHD Annual Conference Newcastle

The BSMHD 2006 Annual Conference will be held on Thursday 25 May 2006 at the Royal Station Hotel, Newcastle. The programme has now been developed, please click here for more information.

Next BSMHD meeting – Preston 28 March 2006

The next BSMHD meeting will be held at Deafway, Brockholes Brow, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 5AL on 28 March 2006. The meeting will be an opportunity to meet staff from the Health Services and Deaf Organisations in the North West of England. BSMHD Meetings are open to all members and are free to attend. If you would like to attend please contact Jonathan Isaac, [email protected] .

The summer meeting will be held in Hampshire in July. Further details will be available in the next Newsletter.

Towards Equity and Access Implementation Panel

The TEA Panel met on 12 January and on 21 February held an Information and Networking Day for staff of organisations involved in the delivery of the national initiatives being funded by the Department of Health. In November 2005 the Panel proposed to the Department of Health a number of national initiatives that had been submitted by Voluntary and Public Sector organisations. Agreement was secured for £1.2 million that had not yet been distributed to PCTs be held back to fund these proposals. However in January 2006 the Department of Health announced that due to an internal spending freeze only half of the projects could be funded out of the 2005/6 allocation. £650,000 has been made available for the following projects:

1. Prison Inreach

2. Commissioning of Mental Health Services

3. Access to SignHealth

4. Communication Tactics training for healthcare staff

5. TEA Report website

Negotiations are taking place with the Department to secure funding for the rest of the National Initiatives and it is hoped that they will be able to start in April 2006. They are:

1. BSL/English Interpreting in Mental Health Settings

2. Training programme for staff working in mental health and deafness

3. Deaf Healthy Living Service

4. Mental Health Interface development Officer

5. Implementing recommendations relating to deafblind people

6. Implementing recommendations relating to deaf children

If you are able to assist the Implementation Officers in their work please contact Herbert Klein or Lloyd Wint, The Bridge, Falcon Mews, 46 Oakmead Road, London SW12 9SJ.

[email protected] or [email protected] Fax 020 8772 3242 Voice 020 8772 3225 Textphone 020 8772 3241

All primary care doctors now have access to the SignHealth software - for more details go to www.deaf-friendly.org.uk

The agenda and minutes and supporting papers of the TEA Panel meetings are available on the link at the top of this page. The next meeting of the panel is on Thursday 23 March 2006.

ESMHD Special Interest Group Meeting – September 2006

There will be an ESMHD SIG ( Special Interest Group Meeting) in Tenerife for two-three days during the week of 11-17 September. Deaf Children and Families Special Interest Group, Public Health and the General Medical Issues will have seminars. For further details contact: Martie van Arkel, ESMHD, Markt 18, A-4192 Schenkenfelden, Austria. Email [email protected]

Welsh Mental Health Reference Group

The next meeting of the group will be held on Tuesday 13 June 2006 at 11.00am at The Boardroom, The Mansion House, Powys LHB, Bronllys. For further details please contact Nigel Bone [email protected]

East Anglia Working Group on Mental Health and Deafness

The East Anglia Working Group on Mental Health and Deafness was set up following the BSMHD members meeting in Cambridge on 2 December 2005. The group held its inaugural meeting on 27 January 2006. The Group provides opportunities for Voluntary, Statutory and Professional organisations working in the field of mental health and deafness to exchange ideas and learn from one another. The group will contribute to strategic planning and promote joint working and will focus its efforts on the TEA (Towards Equity and Access) report prepared by the Department of Health, looking at issues around improving deaf people’s access to health services in East Anglia.

The objectives of the group are: To raise awareness of the Department of Health’s TEA Report; Provide a forum for discussion and the exchange and sharing of information; Develop and promote policies in the field of mental health and deafness addressing issues on the national agenda at local level; Respond to consultative documents issued by various local statutory agencies, Service Providers and other Voluntary Organisations; Provide an opportunity for participating organisations to share and access funding resources and to work jointly and constructively in areas of common concern; To develop and promote good practice for access and communication with deaf people; To contribute to the setting and production of standards and production of standards for the provision of services; To work in partnership with organisations to improve services, access and information provided to deaf people. Note: deaf in this context refers to deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and deafblind people.

Founder members of the group include: West Norfolk Deaf Association; Cambridgeshire Deaf Association; Suffolk Deaf Association; Norfolk County Council Social Services Sensory Support; Our Voice Advocacy Services; Cambridgeshire Hearing Support Services Education; Cambridgeshire County Council Sensory Support Services.

Research into feasibility of additional phone relay services

How good are telephone video relay services for sign language users? Can video relay services become more widely available? Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has asked City University to study the possibilities for video relay services. City’s team will also research other telephone relay services for hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired people. Text telephone relay already exists. It’s been available for two decades – and nationally as ‘RNID Typetalk’ since 1991. Some small-scale video relay services have recently been set up. So sign language users can communicate with hearing people via video telephone links and a sign language relay interpreter. Is it feasible to make video relay more widely available? The City University team is examining the technology, costs, market demand, interpreter issues and BSL users’ viewpoints. The City University study will also look at the possibilities for two other new additional telephone relay services. The first is captioned (subtitled) telephone relay service for hard-of-hearing people. (This works by displaying the text of what the other person on the phone is saying.) The second is voice-support relay service for speech-impaired people. (That works with an operator re-speaking indistinct words.) Doria Pilling, a City University researcher, said “We are contacting people interested in video relay and other services to hear their views. Please get in touch.” The research website – www.addrelay.org.uk – has details in BSL, also at the SignPost website, www.signpostbsl.com/news/signpost

Noise at Work Regulations 2005

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 will come into force on 6 April 2006, with a two year transitional period for the music and entertainment industry until 6 April 2008. When the new UK regulations are introduced on 6 April 2006, they will repeal the existing Noise at Work Regulations 1989. Further details on the Health and Safety Executive website at www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg362.pdf

Deafskills 06 – 2-3 June 2006

If Sign Language is your natural language are the obstacles to achieving your potential at whatever level in whatever field still enormous in the 21st Century? This is the question for ‘Deaf People: Skills for Work and Life’. Is there a better way to educate young Deaf people? Can language experts find a way to make it easier to bridge the gap between visual, spatial languages and spoken, written languages? Does the internet provide a solution or create ever more barriers because of language issues? Academics, representatives of deaf organisations, teachers, advisers and young Deaf people will gather at Walsall Deaf Peoples Centre’s 60th Anniversary Conference, 2-3 June 2006 at University of Wolverhampton. The conference languages will be BSL, ASL and English. Platform speeches and presentations will be mixed with workshops to allow an effect exchange of views, practices and ideas. The conference dinner will provide a social opportunity to build bridges between colleagues the UK, USA and elsewhere. Full details of the programme and how to register are available at www.deafskills.co.uk or by email to the organiser: [email protected]

A Spotlight on Welfare Reform: Breaking down the barriers to Work - 29 March 2006

Welfare reform is a key reform for this Government, and a Green Paper is expected from the DWP. Capita's key gathering of policymakers and practitioners will tackle all sides of the complex and controversial Incapacity Reform debate, with a particular focus on preventing dependency on IB, early intervention, removing the barriers people with health conditions face in accessing employment, and tailored support for those with less manageable conditions. The programme will cover: the best ways to deliver flexible and comprehensive return-to-work help programmes such as Pathways to Work; equality and the right to work; assessment and identifying ‘manageable conditions’; long-term health and employment links and the wider role of GPs and other health practitioners; legal rights and support for disabled people who face real barriers to work; the role of the independent sector, the individual and the personal adviser. For further details go to www.capita-ld.co.uk/capita-ld/pdf/TSGKWelfareReform.pdf

The next edition of the BSMHD Newsletter will be sent out in May 2006. The deadline for sending articles is 1 May 2006. Please send by email to: [email protected]

Contact us
British Society for Mental Health & Deafness, Westwood Park, London Road, Little Horkesley, Colchester, CO6 4BS.
Telephone 01206 274075
Text 01206 274076
Fax 01206 274077

Or send us an Email [email protected]

Note: The articles that appear in this newsletter are for information only – inclusion does not imply endorsement of the contents by BSMHD.

Contact us
British Society for Mental Health & Deafness
Westwood Park, London Road, Little Horkesley, Colchester, CO6 4BS.
Telephone 01206 274075
Text 01206 274076
Fax 01206 274077

Or send us an Email [email protected]

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