Health: Supporting Women, Reducing Harm Short Life Working Group minutes - 29 August 2024

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Emma Cashmore-Gordon, Co-chair, Perinatal Services Manager, Aberlour
• Iona Duckett, Co-chair, Senior Midwife, NHS Tayside
• Anne McFadyen, SG, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health
• Roch Cantwell, SG, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health
• Jennifer Shields, Foetal Alcohol Advisory Support Training Team, Edinburgh
• Marie Balment, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Network Scotland
• Lesley Sharkey, Director of Midwifery, NHS Tayside
• Maree Aldam, CEO, Birth Companions
• Gavin Philipson, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Network Scotland
• Ruth Robin, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Shelley Arthur, Health Visiting Team Leader, NHS Forth Valley
• Joanne Smith, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, NSPCC Scotland
• Rowan Anderson, Corra Foundation
• Karis Deacon, SG, Secretariat

Apologies

• Adam Burley, Trauma Services in Mental Health Lead, NHS Lothian
• Fiona Miele, Family Nurse Partnership Lead, NHS Grampian
• Anna Clark, Consultant Obstetrician, Glasgow SNIPS
• Linda Thompson, Head of Services, Women’s Support Project
• Lyndsey Turfus, Substance Use Sub-Group Chair, Social Work Scotland
• Susanna Galea-Singer, Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland
• Hazel Inglis, Specialist Midwife for Drugs and Alcohol, NHS Highland
• Jennifer Shields, Foetal Alcohol Advisory Support Training Team, Edinburgh
• Kirstyn Brogan, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
• Jaki Lambert, Director for Scotland, Royal College of Midwifes
• Lynn Gillies, Service Manager, Children & Families, Social Work, Fife Council

Items and actions

Welcome and updates 

The Co-Chairs welcomed group members to the sixth meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

Feedback From LLE Steering Group

​​​​​​​The group convened for a second meeting, during which a brief but insightful discussion took place. The Group was chaired by ECG and ID, and met via Microsoft teams.  

​​​​​​​Representation was made up of 6 women who are currently pregnant, women with previous experience of substance use during pregnancy, and women who have had children removed into care.

 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Emma Cashmore-Gordon outlined key discussion points from the Steering Group’s discussion on the key rights included in the draft charter of rights for people accessing drug and alcohol services. These key rights included:

• right to life
• right to highest attainable standard of health
• right to an adequate standard of living
• right to a private family life
• right to a healthy environment

​​​​​​​The following key points were outlined:

• there is a need for services to understand why women are using substances, rather than what substances they are using
• for many women accessing support across drugs and alcohol, social work and maternity services, it often feels like every door is the wrong door – as in each of these services women face stigma and judgement
• a human rights/public health approach must reach across all of the services that people affected by substance use attend
• there is a lack of lived and living experience/peer workers in social work services – this shared understanding would really help build trust with women who otherwise lack faith in social workers
• when women have an understanding of what their rights are, and what care they deserve, they are much more likely to attend meetings and advocate for themselves and their children

Presentation and discussion on a human rights based approach

​​​​​​​Alan Miller, human rights lawyer and chair of the National Collaborative, provided a short presentation on the shift to a human rights based approach, and outlined progress on developing a charter of human rights for people accessing drug and alcohol services. Key points included:

• the Charter of Human Rights, developed by the National Collaborative, will be accompanied by a toolkit to support its implementation during the next phase of the work throughout 2025 and beyond
• work to date has involved a very real consultation with people from across Scotland to understand the barriers they face, and engagements with all levels of leaderships to make sure that local areas have a shared ownership of the charter and toolkit
• there will be four key components of the toolkit; how to embed the right to health in practice, a fair tool to understand how to use this approach in service design and delivery, the need for signposting /advocacy and understanding how we can embed the charter in wider SG standards and guidance
• given the nature of the Supporting Women Reducing Harm work, which involves considering the needs and rights of both mothers and children, there is a need for decision makers to ‘balance rights’
• good practice here might involve providing a list of questions that should be asked before a decision is reached, to ensure that the whole picture of the family and individuals within it is considered

​​​​​​​During a follow-up discussion around the importance of integrating this rights based approach our good practice guide, group members highlighted the need for us to be careful around ‘balancing’ the rights of children and mothers, and to ensure that feedback from women through evaluation is built into it.

Actions and Close

• ​​​​​​​co-chairs thanked members for attending and for their valuable input and closed the meeting

Date of next meeting: 17 October 2024 11:00 - 12.00