How It Started: Changing Scotland Network

At the Leicester Conference the Scottish Delegates that we have a meeting, to discuss our own issues and the date was set: Wednesday, 7 November, 2004 at 11.30am in Shirley House room 3. The Welsh participants had their own meeting as the same time.

I've described us as delegates, but in fact we were participants to the conference, as, as far as I am aware, we selected ourselves to attend. All 21 participants were funded by the conference organisers with travel expenses for some. It later transpired that the Scottish Office had been dilatory in coughing up their share of the expenses. They certainly had not paid at the time of the conference; I wonder if they have now? No, for some reason they have not.

With reluctance, Robert Kincaid chaired the meeting for us and did a good jog, getting most people to participate as well as keeping us in order. We were provided with a note taker and I think that a report of the meeting will appear next month.

From my memory and a few sketchy notes the topics that we covered included:

Rural Issues: PWHAs in urban centres should meet people and perhaps put them up.

Emotional Support for PWHAs and Supervision for volunteers.

Life Coaches for, as someone put it, Living with HIV rather than a Life of HIV. To see beyond what once seemed an inevitable destiny.

Community Housing for people with HIV (and perhaps similar diseases). Housing is an important issue for many people, and the support of like minded people around would be valued.

Patient Groups, Living Well Groups, Health Citizenship
groups have been established around these concepts in England but not in Scotland as far as we knew.

Access to HIV Drugs for people without status.