Birmingham is the UK’s first accredited Compassionate City
The people of Birmingham have been recognised for their compassion in the way communities have supported each other during some of the most difficult times, by being crowned the UK’s first Compassionate City on the 14th March.
Accredited by Compassionate Communities UK, the key to gaining this recognition is bringing together all areas of the local community, to provide support, space, togetherness and understanding for those undergoing the experiences of death, dying, loss and caregiving.
The Compassionate City title is part of an international movement with the participation of cities worldwide. The purpose is to build compassion as a major value of life across all sectors of civic society, putting kindness at the heart of health and care strategies in all parts of society.
Birmingham is already recognised as a Healthy City. However, community leaders sought to secure the Compassionate City title to bolster its commitment towards people who are grieving, living with a serious illness and caregivers.
The examples that are being celebrated as part of this award include the annual events normalising issues of death, dying and loss by community group BrumYODO, and the commitment to Compassionate Community Connectors to ensure citizens are more confident in supporting each other and access to peer support in schools, workplaces and communities.
Members of the Compassionate City Birmingham Network came together at the Library of Birmingham to celebrate the achievement and invite others to get involved. This was also an opportunity to acknowledge the compassion and kindness of the city’s residents, and for people to share the good news.
Councillor John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities at Birmingham City Council, said: “Birmingham is a city that offers a warm welcome to all and one where we want everyone to thrive.
“Our commitment to the Compassionate City Charter is a great way to recognise the kindness and compassion across our communities and build on work that’s already taken place and ensure all of our services, schools, employers and citizens can feel confident supporting people living with a serious illness or who are grieving.”
Dr Julian Abel, Director of Compassionate Communities UK, said: “Death, dying, loss and caregiving affects us all. We care for people close to us many times in our lives and we also face our own death. How we die, how we grieve, is affected deeply by the people around us. This is why it is important to understand that everyone can contribute and help, whether this be in our schools, our workplaces, our places of worship, our neighbourhoods and all of the other civic parts of lives.
“This accreditation is more important now than ever before as people are still recovering from a global pandemic. Nothing shows more support than the community coming together to combat loneliness and ensuring that people know they are not isolated, especially during the difficult moments of death, dying, loss and caregiving.”
The Compassionate City Birmingham Network is keen for businesses, schools, community organisations and individuals to get involved in future events and initiatives.
A village community whose volunteers gave up their time to care for sick and dying patients during COVID has received a new national award for their compassion. Residents of Brereton and Ravenhill in South Staffordshire have become the first UK community ever to be awarded ‘Compassionate Community Charter’ status.
During each of the national lockdowns, people in the parish came together to provide much needed support including a foodbank, shopping and a phone buddies’ befriending scheme. Recognising a desperate need, dedicated volunteers also gave up their time to hold the hands of sick and dying neighbours when families couldn’t be there.
“Twice we had to break into people’s houses when they were sick with COVID and wait for ambulances when resources were stretched,” said Sue Merriman, community support worker for the local lottery-funded group, Brereton Million. “We couldn’t help by standing at the door and telling the doctor what we could see so we had to break the rules to go into their homes and explain what we were seeing to get emergency care.
“It was a part of our work that we never advertised but it was vitally important. Some residents were too scared to go into hospital, so we stayed with them to hold their hand and give their partners a break. We’d stay all night sometimes so their carers could go to bed. We also worked with local doctors who would finish their day and come and spend an hour or two with residents who were dying.”
Although lockdown has ended, the community had already begun developing the connections and projects that started during the pandemic. It’s this sustained commitment to community support that has led to them being awarded Compassionate Community Charter status.
The charity behind the new scheme – Compassionate Communities UK – says this is first of many planned for cities, towns and neighbourhoods that can prove they meet strict criteria relating to kindness, compassion and cooperation.
Dr Julian Abel, director of Compassionate Communities UK, said the charity’s aim was to create communities where people would be healthier, happier and have a sense of belonging.
“We want to see a new social movement that recognises that compassion and kindness is as important as medicine,”
said Dr Abel.
“Studies show that the health of the population improves when people live in communities where they are supported to be active, creative and resourceful. Our new charter status will be awarded to neighbourhoods, towns and cities which demonstrate a sustained commitment to compassion across their community.
“That’s what we’ve seen in Brereton and Ravenhill over the pandemic and there’s a real commitment to build even more connections in the future. The community has built on the really strong foundations they already had in place to create a neighbourhood which is truly committed to helping residents and bringing people together.”
Through Brereton Million, village community groups were already connected and working together, raising funds for a playground among other things. But lockdown brought a whole new dimension to their work with Sue’s home being transformed into a food bank and numerous residents providing a hotline service for vulnerable neighbours.
“It all began when the pandemic hit and I spotted an elderly resident who should have been shielding on her way to the shop,” said Sue. “Her son had COVID and was locked in his room while she was sitting at home watching the news telling her she needed to stay indoors. It turned out she hadn’t eaten for four days and she was absolutely petrified.
“I sent her back home and went to the Co-op for her. That’s when we got talking about how there must be lots of residents like this. The Co-op said they could provide surplus bread and we started knocking on all the doors.”
Sue and her team of 100+ volunteers knocked on 3,500 doors not once but twice during the pandemic where they discovered more vulnerable residents as well as more and more people willing to help
“Every time we knocked a door we found a new problem, said Sue. “Kids with no pens or supplies for school, families struggling for food, disabled people whose support services had stopped. Mental health was at an all-time low. As the weeks went by, we’d got residents who were so low and lonely because they’d not spoken to anyone for weeks.
“As we went through the village, we kept appealing for people to help us and we got a volunteer co-ordinator who really jumped on board and started organising a mass of volunteers. Then we got a phone buddies co-ordinator who would get people to ring those lonely residents who didn’t have anyone to speak to. The same volunteers were also there for people when someone died to help, whether it was a listening ear or offering help with all the paperwork associated with dying.
“We had a food co-ordinator who would do brilliant appeals. That led to supermarket lorries turning up at my house with trucks loading up my living room.
“We created a craft group who made PPE because we couldn’t get any in the shops. There was a book and jigsaw group set up for residents who were used to going to community groups that had shut down.
“It just kept growing and growing.”
Despite all the community support bringing people together, Sue admits that there were tough times, both emotionally and physically, for some of the volunteers. “There were times where the phone never stopped ringing,” she said. “We were going from one crying resident to the next and I mean that with the greatest empathy.
“I’ll never forget one man who was too proud to tell his family he couldn’t afford to feed them so I arranged to meet him round the corner from his house so they would think he’d gone shopping.
“During the first round of door knocking we stopped a man from killing himself.
“The hardest thing was knowing that when someone was crying you couldn’t hug them. You’d be sent to someone’s house, and it was heart-breaking sometimes to have to walk away. That was quite hard to bear.”
One resident who benefited from the Brereton Buddies befriending scheme was Rob Cross who lost his wife Margaret to Motor Neurone Disease during COVID.
“I volunteered to be a buddy but I found I couldn’t actually cope with that,” said Rob, a former army officer who has no relatives nearby. “When I lost my wife, I found I was on the receiving end of the buddy system because I really needed the help. It was really helpful to be able to put something in the diary to say I was going to have a phone call on a particular day because it’s so easy to descend into the trough of despair. It’s made a huge difference to my life and I honestly don’t know how I would have coped without it.
“What matters is having people around you who care. It’s really very moving and I’m quite emotional about it.”
When vaccinations started, Brereton Million were able to fund taxis to take residents to the vaccination centre in Cannock.
“There was no public transport but we didn’t just book cabs, we sat with our local taxi company every evening and discussed every resident’s needs,” recalled Sue. “We spoke about whether they were in a wheelchair or whether they were anxious, and we arranged a bespoke trip for them every time, which is something we’re all very proud of.”
It wasn’t only vulnerable residents in Brereton who were grateful for the kind-hearted support – the volunteers themselves were just as thankful to be given a purpose.
“People come and hug us all the time and say they wouldn’t be here without us,” said Sue. “We’ve been left with a lot of widows and widowers who now know who to call. But it’s not just the residents who were glad of the support. The volunteers have said that we kept them going at a time when they didn’t know what to do. Rather than sitting at home twiddling their thumbs and losing their minds, they stepped up. In the end, the volunteers were as grateful as the residents we supported.”
Thanks to the group’s work with local teenagers during lockdown, the village have now created a memorial garden for people to remember their loved ones.
“The memorial is one of my favourite projects,” added Sue. “We run a local youth group and the teens came up with the idea because they don’t like graveyards so they wanted to have a place where they could go and reflect in their own way.
“The fact that they asked for this and have been a big part of the design and the making with our community teams speaks volumes. I think it’s just beautiful.
“The Compassionate Communities award is recognition to every single volunteer and resident that worked together. People will say: ‘I didn’t do a lot I just ran and got a prescription’ or ‘I just went and posted something’. Those volunteers don’t know what was in those envelopes that they posted or that prescription they collected. To those residents who feel like they only did five minutes, it meant two hours to me and to some of our other volunteers. Whether they did five minutes or ten months, we honestly thank every single one of them from the bottom of our hearts.”
Emma Hodges, chief executive of St Giles Hospice who is also a director of Compassionate Communities UK, said:
“Holding hands with somebody whilst they are dying, trying to get end of life care in place, working with the hospice and supporting bereaved children is the heart of what a compassionate community is about.
“That’s why it’s absolutely wonderful to be able to give the very first accredited Compassionate Community in the world to Brereton and Ravenhill who have been so inspiring over the last 18 months. It’s not about just about what the services are doing, what’s more important is how communities are rallying around people, being kind and being there for each other.
Presenting the award at an official ceremony last month, Amanda Milling MP for Cannock Chase, said: “The last 18 months have been a really difficult time and one of the things I’ve seen up and down the country is how community groups have come together to support people. That’s been so important at a time when a lot of people have been stuck at home, often in very difficult circumstances. For Brereton and Ravenhill to get the first accreditation is just absolutely magnificent and so well deserved.”
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To hear more, click below for the short video clip that particularly focuses on palliative care of here for the full video or here for the Survival of the Kindest Podcast with Dr Julian Abel
Like all communities, Whittington has its fair share of compassionate individuals, but they don’t always have the opportunity to blossom. Sometimes when people recognise a clear need they do respond. This was the case when the local vicar, Rev Paul Bothwell, talked about the need for a hospice in the area and people responded. Influential people in the Community joined him and helped develop the idea and market it throughout the Community. Many joined the crusade and helped to fundraise and once our incredible hospice was completed, most went on to become volunteers and many from the village and elsewhere still do.
One of those initial key influencers who went on to become one of the original trustees and then a long serving volunteer was ‘Fairy’ Gopsill. I met Fairy in the early 90’s and we soon became good friends despite our significant differences, he was 6ft plus and I am 5’4”, he was a Lt Colonel in the Gurkha regiment and an expert in Jungle Warfare, and I got thrown out of the school cadets. When we first met, I had recently returned from studying on an international programme at MIT in Boston. Whilst there I spent a lot of time exploring why some Companies were successful and others not, especially by the impact of different leadership styles. Back home I was often made to feel uncomfortable because my style was so different to many others that I worked with, but I was pleased to find on the programme that there were quite a few who behaved like me. I was even more pleased to see that some of the most successful international companies were run by people who had characteristics in their style like mine. It was even more surprising that back home I should meet somebody who had operated in a totally different environment to me but had the same basic beliefs about leadership as I did, and he even played a role in leadership development at Sandhurst. Maybe in the current context we would refer to it as compassionate leadership.
Chatting one day we discovered that we were both visiting two vulnerable guys in the village and ‘Fairy’ suggested that we should have a regular monthly lunch with them. We asked two more to join us and a lady in the village cooked a super two course meal for us followed by cheese and biscuits and coffee and I brought a bottle of wine. Over the next few months several more men joined us, and Fairy asked me to write our ‘Mission’.
The Whittington Men’s Lunch Group was formed in November 1999 specifically for men from within the community who, for a variety of reasons – such as disability, loss of employment or retirement – missed men’s company. The Group aims to provide friendship and mutual support or practical help when needed.
Clearly there will always be a need for a strong contingent of fit, retired men within the Group who would welcome the opportunity to help provide that practical help and support that others might need, whilst at the same time enjoying socializing with male company over lunch.
This mission is at the top of all our circulars updating members of any changes in membership, contact details and lunch dates. It informs new members what we are all about and reminds existing members.
At the same time ‘Fairy’ wrote a short prayer:
Lord, thank you for our friendship and food today, and for those who prepared it.
Help us not to feel bitter and prejudiced in difficult times or to take things for granted and remind us always of our responsibility to care for those who need it.
Sadly, Fairy is no longer with us but his legacy lives on. In the 22 years since we started, we have started opened every meeting with this prayer even though only a very small percentage of the group attend Church regularly.
The simple formula for the lunch has always remained the same which we believe is one of the reasons for our ongoing success. We meet at the bar in the Church Hall and have up to 30min chat over a glass of wine or beer; sit down at one of the round tables for 8; listen to our prayer and enjoy the meal and accompanying chat. We try to ensure that new or vulnerable members are made to feel comfortable.
There are no rules, no committee, and the payment, (£15 recommended at present), is dropped into the original black honesty box donated by Fairy. We try to ensure that those we know are short put in what they can afford, and others compensate for them. We now have 5 ladies who look after us and we look after them socially & financially. A volunteer sorts the wine, another volunteer sorts the money paying the ladies, the food and for the wine and another does the admin. Membership numbers have ranged over the years between 60 and 70 with ages ranging between mid- seventies and 100. The numbers of younger fitter men are controlled to ensure the ladies can cope with their limited cooking facilities.
It is inevitable that with an age range such as this and a significant number of widowers, that support is often needed. Visits to the likes of the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, a 50-mile round trip, were common as well as more local medical visits and help in the home.
In 2013 the village was approached to set up a Good Neighbour Scheme by the County Council and they appointed somebody to facilitate this. It is fair to say that a very significant proportion of the community, including the Vicar and the leader of the Parish Council at the time, were positively against the idea. To be told by the County Council that Whittington, which was a vibrant community which had lots of different organisations, needed such a scheme went down with many like a lead balloon.
However, those of us organising the Men’s Lunch Group knew of the need there which we were not fulfilling in the way we would like and, therefore saw that a Good Neighbour Scheme could be very effective in our community. From the very start we hoped that such a scheme could link some of the good, but insular, organisations in the village together.
The representative of the County Council set up a very small steering group and the Chair and secretary came from the Men’s Lunch Group with enthusiastic support from a retired vicar who lived in the village and knew from her work that there was a need. The group set about defining that need and what a Good Neighbour scheme could need to do to address that need. After 12months the contract of the County Council representative concluded, and the Steering Group decided to set a Management Committee to officially launch the Scheme in the village. Now it was clearly a scheme ‘Run by local people for local people’.
It took another 4 months to set up a VOIP telephone system, create a database for info about clients and volunteers, appoint 14 Duty Officers to run the scheme and write a volunteer handbook. Perhaps not surprisingly, half of those first Duty Officers were members of the Men’s Lunch Group. In May 2015 we went live. From the very start the scheme grew rapidly mainly through word of mouth – much more effective than numerous leaflet drops! Since that time, we have supported 200 people in the Community, we currently have around 100 clients on our books and 70 volunteers. We not only transport clients to medical appointments, hairdressers and fulfill numerous other tasks – see attached- but we have regular social get-togethers to try to reduce loneliness and address the mental & physical health problems that go with it.
This year we were exceedingly proud to receive the ‘Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service’ with the Citation ‘Providing help, support and opportunities for social interaction to vulnerable and lonely villagers.’
Terry Tricker
Chair, Whittington & Fisherwick Good Neighbour Scheme.
Compassionate Communities UK (CC-UK) presented Whittington and Fisherwick with the award this week to coincide with the first International Compassionate Communities Day.
Cllr Garry Hyde with CC-UK’s Dr Majula Patel and Nikki Archer from St Giles Hospice
Members of the Whittington and Fisherwick Good Neighbour Scheme have supported vulnerable and disabled residents over the past six years, receiving support from a range of local organisations along the way, including St Giles Hospice.
Peter Ellis, chair of trustees for CC-UK, said:
“To achieve Compassionate Community status requires demonstration that a place is coming together across different sectors, schools, businesses, care providers and most importantly citizens to support each other on issues to do with death, dying and loss.
“What is clear in Whittington and Fisherwick is that the Good Neighbour Scheme has become a focus in bringing the community together along with the contribution from St Giles Hospice, the parish council and others.
“On evaluating the evidence towards accreditation, the panel was very impressed and was in no doubt that the village deserves this award.”
Peter Ellie, CC-UK
Ian Leech, community engagement manager at St Giles Hospice, said that, in addition to working with local schools and hosting events, the hospice had provided facilities for community groups to meet as well as delivered sessions on care planning, funeral wishes, dementia friends training and understanding bereavement.
“Any way that we can help and do our bit for the village and for the people who live here, we’ll do it.
“Ultimately we want to be a part of Whittington village, not apart from it, and I think we do that very well thanks to the Good Neighbour Scheme.”
Ian Leech, St Giles Hospice
“The neighbourhood has always pulled together”
Whittington resident Val Brocklebank said volunteers for the Good Neighbour Scheme had been particularly supportive during lockdown, popping round with treats and taking residents to and from vaccination appointments.
“I don’t know what I’d do without them – the scheme has given me some human contact and company.
“I think they’re the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened in this village and we’re very fortunate to have them.”
Val Brocklebank
Cllr Garry Hyde, chair of Whittington and Fisherwick Parish Council, added:
“This is a fantastic award and I’m so pleased the hard work of all our village groups and residents has been recognised in this way.
“The neighbourhood has always pulled together and looked after the community, even more so since the Covid pandemic, so this award means the world to us.”
Cllr Garry Hyde, Whittington and Fisherwick Parish Council
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Uttoxeter Schools and Young People
The Youth Emotional Service and St Giles Hospice provide a range of support to young people both in terms of school programmes, peer support and training for teachers. Primary and secondary schools have engaged in this and there is strong school support across Uttoxeter for Compassionate Communities.
The Community Hub – Uttoxeter Cares facilitated an Acts of Kindness Awards programme with the local St Mary’s School – 4 Acts of Kindness per pupil, including around loss.
Our Church Schools and our Foundation Governors will ensure that schools have policies or guidance in place, reviewed annually, for dying, death, loss and care.
St Giles has trained Staffordshire Police Cadets in Understanding Loss
Next Steps
Have a young person’s event to gain their views of serious illness, dying, loss and care giving in Uttoxeter
Ensure all education establishments are engaged in reviewing and embedding support for young people
Contact all youth support clubs such as the Guides and Scouts to consider further activities particularly around their community participation events
Work with CC-UK on the Compassionate Schools Programme
Support school ambassadors to be compassionate community connectors
Incentives and Rewards
The Town Council have agreed to oversee the introduction of a Compassion Award and to support other incentives where possible
There are examples of incentives and engagement via Dying Matters Weeks, Act of Kindness Awards within Uttoxeter
To launch the Compassion Award – September 2022
Next Steps
GP Practices in Uttoxeter support a community development approach to the implementation of social prescribers – they know what is going on in their community
Primary Care are launching the Joy App which will provide an easily accessible directory of services for Compassionate Community Connectors, Social Prescribers, members of the public and professionals
Social media, local notice boards and connections all support the information available to local people
Prisons and Homelessness
When someone in Uttoxeter is seen ‘sleeping rough’ there is a community Facebook group designed to ensure that person has warm clothes, food and the chance to take part in community activities and conversations about what might be helpful to them.
St Giles has trained YMCA Homeless Team in Understanding Loss and how to access support
Uttoxeter is a close community and when someone returns to the area following detention the likelihood this is someone already known to the community and will be supported with access to local assets. Learning from Birmingham will be considered with regards to HMP Dovegate. Dovegate has access to palliative care services from St Giles Hospice.
Next Steps
Review examples of activity in this area to see how it might help the wider spread of the movement across Staffordshire
Learn from the Birmingham work on prisons
Pledge that no-one will die sleeping rough unless that is their choice
Uttoxeter Inclusion
Uttoxeter has a 98% white population
A higher proportion of older and younger people rather than working age in comparison to UK average
There is a lower than average GCSE achievement which is likely to result in a low adult reading age
One ward falls into the top 5% deprived in the country
Mary, believes the Community Centre does see a wide range of people and she isn’t aware of any community groups not joining in activities
This will be a bigger issues as the Compassionate Community movement spreads into places such as Burton with a very different population mix
St Giles has recently worked with people with learning disabilities to review their views on end of life and bereavement
Next Steps
To engage in conversations via Compassionate Community Connectors to ensure that Uttoxeter is fully inclusive
Discussions are taking place for specific work relating to LGBTQ+ populations
Ensure that all literature regarding the directory of services another information is suitable for the population as a whole
Neighbourhoods
Uttoxeter has a strong neighbourhood network with active citizens in addition to clubs, groups and associations
COVID created stronger links within communities with some of the pandemic response activity is continuing
There are two foodbanks, Uttoxeter Knights, The Community Centre and a local volunteer set up a group to create street level support for prescriptions, food etc.
Uttoxeter is committed to Compassionate Community Connectors and is utilising existing volunteers from the COVID response.
Care Line runs in Uttoxeter which is a form of telephone befriending.
Uttoxeter Cares Community Hub won an award for volunteer telephone support
There are community sources of bereavement support including Bereavement Help Points and groups run by the Youth Emotional Support Services.
Church leaders are actively engaged alongside many groups supporting death, loss and care, and promote neighbourhood care, such as street wardens and signposting to foodbanks.
Next Steps
Ensure that via the Compassionate Community Connectors all communities who want to engage have had the chance to do so
Review any issues of inclusivity
Work with neighbourhoods to discuss the three-lane service model and consider what conversations take place
Memorials
Uttoxeter is very strong on spaces for memorials:-
There is a garden of reflection going into the space behind the Coop funeral directors.
St Giles runs a light up a light service annually in Uttoxeter.
There is a light at the top of the Johnson Memorial in the marketplace which is dedicated to “a light from the past and a light for the future”.
There is a contemplation garden in the community garden.
There is a bereavement by suicide memorial garden in the grounds of Uttoxeter Cares.
Uttoxeter also has a Celebrate Lives Lived garden in May.
Churches also have a special day for memory.
Annually the Methodist Church put knitted Angels around the town for people to search for them and take them home.
Next Steps
Consider memorials for pets
Check there are no communities left behind
Arts and Culture
Uttoxeter is rich with community groups around art – chat and craft, knit and natter, community gardens including a section for particular support groups
Members of the public are actively engaged in supporting this
St Mary’s Church hosted an art exhibition around death, dying and loss in 2019.
Youth Group are also engaged in art.
Next Steps
Amplify what is already in place
Target members to become compassionate community connectors
Consider whether there are communities underserved
Finish the implementation of mens sheds to create more gender diversity
Health and Care
Senior Leaders involved in health and care within the placed based partnership are committed to the Public Health Approach to Palliative Care and Compassionate Communities
The Place Based Partnership has prioritized communities as one of it’s key objectives and is very engaged in a community development approach across the whole population
Nursing homes are engaged in some intergenerational work within the community
St Giles Hospice cover the Place Based Partnership geography including Uttoxeter
Uttoxeter Cares is a partnership hub that support local access to support and peer bereavement
There has been a real drive from Uttoxeter to model the best of Frome and learn from Wigan and this is the first town across the whole of the place base partnership
Next Steps
Ensure that services strategy is developed from the ‘3 lane’ approach
Roll out directory of services
Embed the community connectors across Uttoxeter
Continue the Uttoxeter Task Force to maintain momentum of the community first approach
Places of Worship
“Our Anglican churches have an Area Staff Team who coordinate and are dedicated to end-of-life care support. Including pastoral visiting by ministers and others, support for bereaved families around the time of funerals, condolence cards sent to next of kin 3 or 4 months after, and regular services to remember the loved ones (such as Candles in loving Remembrance, Light for Life). Our ministers also support the funeral directors.” Uttoxeter Area of Parishes
Churches are involved with a number of events with local community groups and St Giles
Next Steps
To explore with the community both access to places of worship and to explore spirituality in the context of serious illness, care giving, dying and loss
Uttoxeter Work Places and Trade Unions
Workplaces within the health and care sector such as GP Practices, Schools, the Acute Trust and Community Trust are committed to being part of the external movement and internal movement regarding the charter
JCB, the largest employer is engaged in discussions regarding reviewing their compassionate leave policies and possible Compassionate Workplace
Next Steps
A Conference will be taking place in September for employers across the two southern place-based partnerships in Staffordshire with support from the Chamber of Commerce and several large and small employers
Organisations will be encouraged to undertake the Workplace Attitudes and Experiences to serious illness and bereavement survey
Support the roll out of the Compassionate Organisation Charter
Prisons and Young Offenders Institutes
The Compassionate City of Birmingham is alongside all it’s residents regardless of their background, life circumstances or challenges faced
There are two link workers from the NHS who are involved in healthcare and palliative care in HMP Birmingham involved in the Compassionate City Network
There are peer support programmes in place involving 10 prisoners trained in mental health, suicide prevention and first aid
There are existing relationships between hospices and prisons
Next Steps
A meeting is being arranged to co-create a concept of a compassionate prison
To explore what a Compassionate City means to the prison community
Homelessness
The Compassionate City of Birmingham is alongside everyone regardless of their background, life circumstances or challenges faced
There is a forum of organisations supporting people who are homeless, there is a representative from this group in the Compassionate City Network
The homelessness strategy is due to be reviewed in Birmingham and Compassionate Communities will be embedded as part of it
To talk to people who are homeless about what a Compassionate City means to them
Diversity and Inclusion
Birmingham is committed to ensuring that the benefits of being a Compassionate City are accessible to all it’s citizens
There are a diverse range of individuals and organisations involved in the Compassionate City Network
Hospices have worked together taking part in Birmingham’s Pride festival and in staff training to support widening access
Hospices have engaged with Learning Disability organisations to gain views and develop insights from people with a learning disability when it comes to talking about death, dying and loss
There are examples of diversity in relation to non traditional palliative care populations such as peer support groups for MS
There is a Compassion City Network Diversity and Inclusion Group has been established
Diversity and Inclusion is embedded in the training including for all health and social care staff, led by BCHC – this will include a staff and citizen toolkit to aid understanding
Next Steps
To ensure that the voice of residents and their experiences of the City are heard when it comes to diversity, inclusion and designing out structural inequality
Ensuring that peoples of all protected characteristics groups have the opportunity to collaborate, coproduce and engage in compassionate communities activities
Strategies across the city are working towards improved inclusion and via the Compassionate City Network these can be considered and feedback provided to ensure the ethos of the charter is embedded
Visibility via media, publications and research
We use the power of digital and print media to ensure that opportunities to engage with our Compassionate City or access support
There are already websites in place for people to access support
There are various newsletters and updates in communities and for professionals in place
Next Steps
There is a PR/Comms plan in the process of being developed for the Compassionate City including a /Birmingham landing page, a film and a social media campaign
Communications networks will be developed and grow further over time
Birmingham has recently established a new research collaborative which will include a public health approach to palliative and end of life care
Consider street, building, public signage or other way of promoting Compassionate Birmingham
Incentives, Celebration and Rewards
We use creativity, celebration and rewards to recognise, celebrate and act as a catalyst to amplify and extend the Compassionate City ethos across Birmingham
There have been examples of competitions, related to the work on arts and Dying Matters in Birmingham
There is a Neighbourhood Network Scheme celebration on 30th March recognising their delivery
Next Steps
The Compassionate City Network will be launching a Compassion Award during 2022 to help promote and create momentum
We will use the platform of Compassionate City Charter status (when achieved) to launch the award, wider engagement and opportunities around celebration of individual and group acts of compassion
Memorials
We will ensure that there is space across our diverse communities to create opportunities for remembrance and celebration of life
In 2021 there was an installation in Aston Park called In Memorium. A free space for people to gather
There are opportunities across the city including Celebrate Lives Lived, Light up a Life services, Time to Reflect and Remember activities across hospices, via community organisations, faith organisations, funeral directors, Edward Trust, Memorial Books, Cruse etc
There are specific spaces for memorials including the Hall of Memory in Centenary Square, and the St Thomas’ Church Peace Garden in Bath Row.
Next Steps
To understand more from citizens what their experience of memorials are and what would matter most to them as part of future plans
To support learning and understanding on the rituals and traditions of funerals and funeral poverty
To review parks and green spaces as venues and opportunities for public memorials including the work on green funerals in Birmingham
Consider a response to the loss of family pets as a key part of the experiences of loss we face
Arts and Culture
We maximise the vibrant and diverse Arts and Culture Community across the City supporting activities and events to support and understand shared experiences on issues relating to death, dying and loss
There have been a range of exhibitions across the City’s museums including death tours, death cafes for many years
BrumYODO have been at the forefront of this movement since 2016 and continue to be active across the city including their annual festival “A Matter of Life and Death”.
There is a rich history of arts and culture across the City. Birmingham has a world renowned Pre-Raphaelite Art Collection celebrating life and death.
The City have engaged in Dying Matters events since it’s inception
There are music, theatre and spoken word based organisations supporting connecting communities
There are a wide range of community based craft activities to reduce isolation and encourage conversations
Next Steps
To have conversations with communities and other stakeholders to maintain the work undertaken today and add diversity and breadth to the conversations and exhibitions
The ICS, specifically the NHS, Public Health and Adult Social Care are working together on the Arts in Health strategy and will incorporate compassionate communities
Health and Care
Our Health and Care System understands the benefits of compassion and a community development ethos in all that it does
The Compassionate City Charter has been embraced by key parts of the ICS including Adult Social Care, Public Health, voluntary sector and NHS providers
The work streams on Palliative and End of Life Care include commitment to Ambition Six “Every community is prepared to help” within the national ambitions framework
Continue to elevate and celebrate the vital role of Community Sources of Bereavement Support delivered by voluntary sector and community networks, clubs, groups and associations
Our 4 hospices and Murray Hall Community Trust have been committed to and working towards compassionate communities for many years
There is an education and training programme being co-produced and tested with communities to support skills and knowledge on issues to do with serious illness, caring responsibilities and bereavement – this will include public education for death literacy, manual handling and understanding loss
Community development and compassionate communities is being connected into a wide range of City health and care strategies including Neighbourhood Integration and front line integrated teams which include local network leads and primary care
Next Steps
Amplify the role of the voluntary sector across the City
Continue to drive changes in strategy by including compassionate communities in service specifications
Evaluate the nursing home survey on their engagement in communities and work on how this is enhanced
Develop the three lane approach to all service redesign programmes
Roll out the training and education programme and encourage communities to participate
Ensure the interlinking strategies of complex care and prevention are united around the ethos of compassionate communities
Schools, Colleges, Universities and Young People
All schools, colleges, universities and young people across the City have access to proactive & crisis support including:-
Empowering the school community to engage in topics relating to death, dying & loss
Curriculum enrichment and study sessions
Peer support on understanding loss
Teacher Training on understanding loss
Direct support following a death within the school community
Next Steps
Enhancing the proactive offer via an Education Conference towards the end of 2022
Talking to schools that have not engaged to find out why and jointly create solutions
Talking to parent groups to get their experience of bereavement support within the school community
Contact youth organisations such as the Guides and Scouts
Workplaces & Trade Unions
All workplaces across the City have access to proactive & crisis support including:-
Understanding loss in the workplace training
Access to workshops and conferences to support their organisational culture in the area of death, dying and loss
An employer survey has been completed to help engage understanding and support on issues to do with supporting someone who is, or work whilst seriously ill or grieving
1st employer conference has taken place
Next Steps
Wide scale promotion and showcasing the work of compassionate employers across the City
Target businesses that offer services that work with people who are bereaved including vets, solicitors, funeral directors, insurance companies etc
Connecting in with incentives to celebrate compassion in the workplace
Rolling out Compassionate Companies standard
Rolling out Compassionate Community Connectors
Creating a Compassion Café for Birmingham Employers
Connecting employers with Neighbourhood Network Schemes
Engage with trade unions
Neighbourhoods
Our citizens are actively involved in their communities in being supported or supporting others on care giving, grieving, living with a serious illness in order to build resilience and prevent crisis
There are many examples across the City including Street Connectors, Neighbourhood Networks, Bereavement Help Points, drop in centres, cafes, foodbanks, volunteers, faith groups etc
There are community greens spaces that are welcoming of community activities and togetherness
Next Steps
To make sure no one is left behind – work with our communities to ensure that the benefits of a compassionate city are available to all
Roll out Compassionate Community Connectors via the NNS
Continue to treasure hunt in our community and see if what is already in place would like any additional support such as training
Develop the three lane approach to all service redesign programmes with a clear focus on resilience and prevention
Places of Worship
Our city invites people of all faiths, and none, to participate in the wide range of activities, forums, support networks and groups run by faith groups across Birmingham
Engagement and support from the Birmingham Council of Faiths on the CC-UK Foundation Modules and the Compassionate City Network
Examples of existing groups, support and activities on issues relating to death, dying and loss with faith organisations
Next Steps
To continue connecting support and access between faith groups and social prescribers
Encourage members of faith groups to engage as Compassionate Community Connectors
Support faith groups where the Compassionate City Network can enhance their role and work across Birmingham
