Ten top health charities awarded £210,000 in GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards 2006

19 April 2006 - Hartlepool Families First (HFF), an exceptional child and health care charity which targets hard-to-reach communities, has won £30,000 as the Overall Winner of the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards, in conjunction with the King’s Fund. A further nine award winning health charities from all corners of the UK were awarded £20,000 each for distinction in community health, including charities such as a counselling and support service for the victims of rape and sexual abuse in South Wales, hearing aid support in Ayrshire, Scotland and a medical emergency roadside response team in Cambridgeshire.

The annual GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards were created to reward small to medium sized charities that were doing excellent work to improve the health of their communities. Now in its ninth year, the scheme has given awards to 90 community healthcare charities in the UKwith funding of over £1.65 million. This acknowledges the work of these charities dealing with some of the most difficult and distressing social issues.

Wendy McLoughlin, Manager of HFF for 17 years, talking about the charity’s award said, “We are thrilled to be the Overall Winner of the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards. We have a lot of work to do in Hartlepoolto help some groups of people improve their lifestyles and to look after their health. Over the last 2 years the health bus has assisted more than 10,000 people and thanks to this award we will have the financial boost to continue to reach out to those communities which need us most.”

Katie Pinnock, Director, UK Corporate Contributions, GlaxoSmithKline comments:

“The GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards were created to boost the funding of voluntary health organisations that suffer from lack of resources and only limited recognition. This year, the judges felt that Hartlepool Families First stood out amongst all the applications for having developed an invaluable service for those difficult-to-reach groups in the community, including men and young people. This combined with their traditional community focus made them the clear Overall Winner.”

A commitment to quality care in the communities they serve was also clear in the other nine Award winners, receiving £20,000 each:

Cancer Link Aberdeen & North (CLAN) aims to enhance the quality of life for people living with cancer and their families in the Grampian area, through its holistic support centre offering counselling, information and complementary therapies. They also provide low cost bed and breakfast accommodation for patients and families travelling a long way for treatment.

The Cancer Resource Centre in Battersea offers services to the ethnically diverse communities living within South West London, at the centre itself and its Home Visiting Service and through its Black and Ethnic Minority OutreachService. More than 2,500 people have made use of this particular service since 2003.

Lymphoma Associationis a national charity based in Aylesbury offering information and support to lymphoma patients, families and carers across the UK. They aim to increase access and the quality of information available, whilst representing interests of patients and increasing awareness of the condition. A specially created pilot programme aims to establish five Lymphoma Nurse Specialist posts in NHS Haematology units before the end of 2006.

The Men’s Health Forum is a national charity which promotes the health of men and boys in Englandand Walesthrough two websites, one that offers policy and practice information at www.menshealthforum.org.uk and another providing consumer health advice via www.malehealth.co.uk. As well as arranging a yearly Men’s Health Week, it also carries out research and lobbies for changes in health policy.

The Mid AngliaGeneral Practitioner Accident Service (Magpas) is a charity whose doctor and paramedic volunteers respond to very serious medical emergencies, bringing A&E quality treatment to the patient at the scene of a road accident. Magpas has now trained and equipped 250 community volunteers additionally who are contacted by 999 services and can arrive before the ambulance, doubling a heart attack victim’s chance of survival.

The Naz Project London (NPL) is a charity offering sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention and support services to Black and Minority Ethnic communities across London. It helps difficult-to-reach communities, such as Southern Asian, Middle Eastern and African communities, through appropriate forms of literature and volunteering projects.

New Pathways, The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Service provides counselling and emotional support across South Wales. It aims to reduce the trauma suffered by any rape or sexual abuse victim as much as possible, offering advice on reporting incidents to the police, court and medical procedures as well as face-to-face counselling.

The Sensory Impaired Support Group (SISG) in Ayrshire Scotlandaims to improve the quality of life for elderly people using hearing aids. As many as 48,000 of the Ayrshire population wear a hearing aid and can be easily discouraged from persevering with them, if they experience too much difficulty in getting them to work properly. The charity visits those with hearing aids in every setting, including nursing homes and sheltered accommodation, to help individuals maintain them.

The Solihull Carers Centre provides emotional support, information, advice, advocacy and assistance to those providing unpaid care for a relative or friend in the Solihullarea. Services include a free ‘sitting’ service, so that carers can get respite from their role and an advocacy service, on behalf of carers, to ensure they obtain their services and benefits.

Notes to editors:

Photographs of Hartlepool Families First receiving their Overall Winner Award at the National Gallery in Londonare available on request. Photography of all the other winners is also available.

The name ‘IMPACT’ derives from the criteria that winners must have demonstrated in their application submissions: Innovation, Management, Partnership, Achievement, Community Focus and Targeting Need.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies and is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. In 2005, GlaxoSmithKline’s globaldonations were valued at £380 million (equivalent to 5.6% of pre-tax profits) and targeted health and education programmes in more than 100 countries. GSK has been the largest charitable giver of the FTSE 100 for four consecutive years.

For more information, please visit www.gsk.com/community

The King’s Fund is an independent charitable foundation working for better health, especially in London. It carries out research, policy analysis and development activities, working on its own, in partnerships, and through funding. It is a major resource to people working in health, offering leadership development programmes; seminars and workshops; publications; information and library services; and conference and meeting facilities.

Contact Information

Camilla Saunders

PR for GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards

GlaxoSmithKline

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