‘Call to Action’ Halve It Local conference
Committee Room 16, House of Commons
Overview
On Tuesday 10 March 2015 the Halve It campaign and its members hosted a ‘Call to Action’
conference for local stakeholders to engage in the Halve It Local campaign. The conference
aimed to engage local stakeholders by explaining the concept of Local Halve It groups and
discussing their involvement.
The conference was chaired by Baroness Gould of Potternewton and Stuart Andrew MP,
and comprised speeches from Valerie Delpech, Mark Santos, Silvia Petretti, Rob Cookson,
Shaun Griffin, Mark Kenwright, Deborah Gold, Ruth Lowbury, Marion Wadibia, Michael
Mancinelli, Philippa James. The speeches were followed by a collaborative working session
for attendees to connect with people in their region and identify next steps and challenges
for their own Halve It Local group.
The conference was attended by around 70 people from local authorities across London,
and further afield, including Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Trafford, Manchester, Sefton and
Hull. Attendees included Directors of Public Health, leads on sexual health, commissioners,
local councillors and other HIV stakeholders. Key figures in attendance included Cllr Jim
Dickson and Cllr David Noakes, from Lambeth and Southwark boroughs respectively. Both of
these boroughs have passed the council motion on HIV testing to show commitment at a
local level to the coordination and commissioning of accessible and effective HIV testing to
reach the undiagnosed and reduce late HIV diagnosis.
Agenda
13:00
Baroness Gould of Potternewton (Co‐Chair)
- Welcome and ‘Call to Action’
13:10
Valerie Delpech, Public Health England
- The public health case for local action on HIV testing
13:30
Mark Santos, Director, Positive East
Silvia Petretti, Deputy CEO, Positively UK
Rob Cookson, The Lesbian and Gay Foundation
- What is Halve It Local? – what it will achieve; how it will work; what is
happening so far
- What you can do – next steps for local action
14:10
Shaun Griffin, Terrence Higgins Trust
Mark Kenwright, Terrence Higgins Trust
- HIV Prevention England: tools that can be used as part of Halve It Local
14:30
Deborah Gold, CEO, National AIDS Trust, National AIDS Trust
Kat Smithson, Policy and Campaigns Manager, National AIDS Trust
- Local authority funding report; how it can be used to drive local action
14:50
Ruth Lowbury, CEO, MEDFASH
- Local consensus building – Greater Manchester project
- Applicability of this pilot project to other regions
15:10
Break
Stuart Andrew MP takes over as Chair
15:45
Pastor Elizabeth, Naz
Michael Mancinelli, Positive East
- Target populations: Testing in BME communities and MSM communities
16:05
Philippa James, RCGP Sex Drugs and BBV Group
- GP perceptions on testing: RCGP survey
- Tools available for GPs, eg MEDFASH tool
16:15
Secretariat
- Central support for Halve It Local
16:50
Collaborative working session
- Delegates will work in partners or small groups, working through Halve It
toolkit together and identifying next steps for local action in their region
- Feedback session
17:00
Stuart Andrew MP (Co‐Chair)
- ‘Call to Action’: summary of key meeting outcomes; next steps for action
Key features
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Around 70 local stakeholders from local authorities across London, and further
afield, including Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Trafford, Manchester, Sefton and Hull
came together to connect with others in their region and discuss the challenges of
HIV testing in their area.
Speeches by members of the Halve It Steering Group encouraged using the national
campaign to achieve co-ordinated action at a local level across the country through
implementation of best practice.
Attendees were able to connect during the collaborative working session to identify
key local actions for their region and obtain advice from members of the national
Steering Group.
Key points from speeches
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Baroness Gould introduced speakers and explained the purpose of the conference;
what Halve It Local is, how it works, what it aims to achieve and how local stakeholders
could get it involved, and stressed the need for co-ordinated local consensus working on
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HIV testing.
Valerie Delpech spoke about the public health case for local action on HIV testing,
outlining the main success and challenges of HIV testing within primary care,
secondary care and community settings, backed up by statistical data.
Mark Santos, Silvia Petretti, and Rob Cookson discussed local action already taking
place in North East London, North West London and Greater Manchester in order to
provide examples of achievable goals and potential challenges at a local level.
Shaun Griffin and Mark Kenwright introduced examples of accessible tools such as
the THT Know Your Needs tool to find HIV figures for your local authority, and
resources provided by HIV Prevention England programme.
Deborah Gold and Kat Smithson spoke about their report on high prevalence local
authority spending on HIV prevention ‘HIV prevention in England’s high prevalence
local authorities: 2013/14 and 2014/15’.
Ruth Lowbury presented MEDFASH’s toolkit for local action in Greater Manchester as
an example of how to drive local engagement and work towards Halve It’s goals of
reducing late and undiagnosed rates of HIV.
Pastor Elizabeth promoted the role of faith leaders as educators in sexual health and
HIV awareness, in order to access the otherwise hard to reach Black African
population. Michael Mancinelli also discussed community engagement with the
MSM population.
Philippa James presented the findings of surveys into GP attitudes of HIV testing,
carried out at the RCGP conference in October, and the recommendations presented
in the report.
The Halve It Secretariat spoke about the central support from the secretariat and
resources available.
Stuart Andrew summarised the key meeting outcomes and the next steps for action.
Outcomes
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Delegates connected with other local stakeholders in their region and were
equipped with the necessary evidence and tools for expanding HIV testing locally.
The Halve It toolkit includes:
o MEDFASH toolkit on local engagement
o Stakeholder perceptions on HIV testing report
o GP perceptions on HIV testing report
o Early Testing Saves Lives – Halve It position paper
o NICE local government briefing on HIV testing
o Council motion template
Next steps
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Slides and materials from the event have been sent out to all attendees
The Secretariat is in the process of connecting up delegates who have expressed an
interest in joining local groups
Media summary