So political party conferences are over for another year and as I sit
writing this blog I do indeed have the annual post conference cold.
I went to Labour and Conservatives conferences. Both were fun, some
interesting meetings, and good to catch up with colleagues and friends, but
they were also disappointing in that young people’s health, let alone sexual
health was simply not on the agenda.
The only session I attended when I didn’t have to shoe horn a question
in was at the Local Government Association and Coop fringe meeting discussing
the opportunities provided by the transfer of Public Health responsibilities to
Local Government.
The excellent Hackney councillor Jonathan Mcshane identified there are many potential benefits to public health moving across to the Local Authority, and also confirmed Brook’s
fears that sexual health has the potential to be politicised in Local
Government, and that work we understand to be mainstream and innovative work
could be seen to be too risky for the electorate. Jonathan gave an example of a Local Authority condom
distribution scheme being ‘moved to health’ at the last meeting to avoid
criticism and attack. I know too
many examples of Sex and Relationships Education guidance getting stuck at
committee stage, and of Council Leaders taking far too active an interest in
curriculum materials. From April
2013 is going to be a different game with a whole lot of educating, influencing
and helping those with these new responsibilities – elected members and
officers - to understand the issue, and ensure that young people’s sexual
health does not become a political football.
The small issue of clinical governance within Local Authorities remains
unsolved, and there isn’t much time before handover day. I await a response from the Medicines
and Healthcare Regulatory Agency about which bodies will be able to authorise
the use of Patient Group Directions which enable nurses to provide
contraception and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. I am now
writing to the CEO of LGA, Secretary of State for Health, and Secretary of
State for Communities and Local Government to reiterate the importance of
urgent action. It would be
embarrassing for all concerned if sexual health and other services ground to a
halt on April 1st because nurses aren’t able to operate within the
law. It would also be a disaster
for the public’s health.
My highlight of the Labour Party Conference was Yvette Cooper
unequivocally stating that under Labour PSHE including sex and relationships
education would be made statutory.
Yes Labour should have made PSHE statutory during their 13 years in
government but they didn’t and as Justin Hancock of Bish Training said ‘we are
where we are, even if we don’t like it’. Given how important sex and relationships education is for protecting
and safeguarding children from sexual exploitation and harm, as well as reducing
teenage pregnancy and preventing sexually transmitted infections this
commitment is welcome.
At the Conservative Party Conference I attended a Health Hotel fringe
meeting about delivering world-class health services, and from a young people’s
organisation perspective it was terrifying simply by the omission of any
reference to young people. I know
Mr Hunt is in the early days as Secretary of State for Health and I also know
that professions and charities protect their own interests and are fighting for
voice in these forums. However I
really struggle to understand how we can talk about developing a world class
health systems and only focus on older people and long term conditions like
diabetes to the exclusion of all other groups and issues, including that rather
critical group that we don’t currently serve as well as we should - children
and young people. I look forward to finding out more about the future of the
children and young people health outcomes strategy over the coming weeks.
The market alone cannot and should not drive world-class health
services. Professions and
charities are going to have to change the way they work together to make best
use of limited resources, and to understand how to do so in the best interests
of patients. At that particular
meeting Clare Gerada got my vote as ‘hero of the match’ for a couple of
reasons. Having been absolutely
vocal in her opposition to the Health and Social Care Bill she started her
speech by saying lets not go over old ground - the Bill is now an Act, we have
to make it work, and we will make it work. Once that was out
the way Clare was obviously feeling mischievous: first she reminded men that if
you can’t see your penis you probably need to eat less and do some more exercise
to avoid diabetes, then she threw in a curve ball when absolutely out of
nowhere she asked the pharmacist on the panel what they thought about
delivering services to improve health in the same place that cigarettes are
sold. It’s a very good question, but unfortunately didn’t get an answer.
Clare continued to be provocative at a Patient Voice dinner hosted by
Bayer Schering and chaired by Nick Golding from Health Service Journal that
evening. She rightly challenged
the charities to consider the impact of single issue campaigning and advocacy
on the effective delivery of health care.
Whilst I didn’t agree with all Clare was saying and I will be seeking to
teach her about charity accounts and where they are published for public
scrutiny, there is doubtlessly an issue about single issue lobbying, particularly
now resources are tight about what the NHS can, should and will be paying
for. And those decisions cannot be
based on ‘s/he who shouts loudest’.
Conservative conference was also of course where Lord Carey and Anne
Widdecombe set out vile hypothesis that if we change the law so all people, gay
or straight, have the rights to marry
– then we will be heading for a totalitarian state similar to Nazi
Germany. The equally vile Coalition for Marriage had a stand at the conference.
Against my better judgement I visited to find out a bit more about it, to
understand the arguments a bit more and if anyone wants to know how homophobic
bullying still exists in schools, you just need to stand by that stall for a
while and hear some of the comments that were made about gay people by some of
the conference delegates. A few of the pleasantries I overheard were “(they)
don’t stay in relationships anyway”, “not safe with our children”, “(they) are
everywhere now, on TV, in top jobs and they think they can shove it in people’s
faces, marriage is just too far”.
So in the spirit of understanding I went over and asked exactly what their
objections are. There is a whole
leaflet about it on their website, but some ‘facts’ stick out; 1. gay people
have equal rights provided for by civil partnerships. 2. If you make it legal
for two consenting men or women to marry each other it is a slippery slope - the implication being that there will be 'orgies' of people all wanting to marry each other, or people turning up wanting
to marry their dog. 3. if you legalise equal marriage it will mean children
will have to learn about it in school
Best of all is their proposition that it is a myth that gay people want
equal marriage. Only 39% of gay
people say they would get married so its not worth it. If I was being pedantic I think the
same argument would apply to heterosexual marriage and I certainly wouldn’t be
arguing against anything on the basis that not everyone wants to do it
therefore it shouldn’t happen.
So after supper with Julie Bentley and Clare Laxton to celebrate the
excellent work that Clare has done for both Brook and FPA and to wish her well
in her new role at Arthritis Research UK, I finished party conference season
2012 very worried where children and young people’s health fits into the
thinking of both government and the opposition, and worried that school based
Personal, Social and Health Education is dropping off the agenda completely.
So it is timely and important that Brook and FPA have launched XES: we can’t go
backwards. This three year campaign is currently focusing on access to
contraception, and will turn to other issues over the coming years. Find out
more at www.wecantgobackwards.org.uk
or follow the campaign on twitter @xescampaign
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