## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** 

## **From 1[st] April 2022 to 31[st] March 2023** 

**Charity name:** Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin Support CIO 

## **Charity registration number:** 1189914 

## **Objectives and Activities:** 

GMESS was set up as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) on 28[th] August 2020.  GMESS aims to promote and protect the physical and mental health of sufferers of eczema and other inflammatory skin conditions in Greater Manchester through the provision of support, education and practical advice. The CIO also aims to advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to eczema and other inflammatory skin conditions. 

Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts. 

## **Reference and Administrative details** 

|**Charity name**|Greater Manchester Eczema & Skin Support CIO|
|---|---|
|**Other name the charity**<br>**uses**|GMESS|
|**Registered charity**<br>**number**|1189914|
|**Charity’s principal**<br>**address**|Zion Community Resource Centre<br>339 Stretford Road<br>Hulme<br>Manchester<br>M15 4ZY|



## **Structure, Governance and Management** 

|Type of governing<br>document:|**Constitution – Foundation**|
|---|---|
|How is the charity<br>constituted?|**Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)**|



## **Contribution made by volunteers** 

We were funded to conduct a survey to ascertain the dermatology needs and health inequalities of Black Caribbean, Black African and South Asian members of the Manchester community. One of the women of South Asian background, who took part in the survey, requested to become a GMESS volunteer. She volunteered because she felt that it was a great opportunity to support others from her community who were living in silence with the skin condition, to enable them to receive support from GMESS, and have a voice and share their concerns with relevant health bodies with an interest in dermatology. 



We now have a service user steering group in place. Their role is to review service user activities and outcomes. Also to help steer the direction of the charity. 

## **Achievements and Performance** 

Funding achieved during the period: 

- **Be Well Social Prescribing Development Fund:** to build our capacity to deliver activities 

- **Manchester Integrated Care Partnership:** to conduct a survey to ascertain the dermatology needs and health inequalities of Black Caribbean, Black African and Asian members of the community 

- **Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Fund:** to tack health inequalities that marginalised ethnic communities face when trying to get help from mental health services 

- **Together fund:** to use sports, hydration, nutrition  and 1-to-1 support to improve skin conditions 

## **Black  African  Black  Caribbean  &  South  Asian  Dermatology  and  Health Inequality Report** 

We conducted a survey to ascertain the dermatology needs and health inequalities of Black Caribbean, Black African and Asian members of the community. 30 people took  part  in  the  survey.  The  areas  the  survey  explored  were  severity  of  skin conditions,  management  of  skin  conditions,  support  from  mainstream  health services, and cultural needs in the management of skin conditions. A number of the recommendations from the report included: 

1. A  culture  of  self-care  should  be  promoted,  supporting  people  with  the knowledge and skills to improve their skin health and mental wellbeing. This should  be  delivered  in  a  holistic  framework  that  takes  a  person-centred approach. 

2. Peer support groups should be more widely promoted as a means of support for those affected by these conditions. These groups offer the opportunity for those affected to be around people who share a similar experience, thus reducing isolation which supports improved mental wellbeing. 

3. To ease the pressure on GP practices alternative approaches to managing skin conditions, including diet, hydration, stress management and exercise advice, should be more widely promoted, as prescription medication alone does not seem to be working for a large number of people, especially if there is continued use for a considerable number of years. 

4. A  greater  recognition  of  the  psychological  effects  of  inflammatory  skin conditions should be adopted by GP’s and dermatologist, coupled with an improved referral process to culturally appropriate support. This should be supported  by  better  promotion  of  mental  health  services  and  community engagement to reduce the stigma attached to such services. 

5. Dermatology research  and  clinical  trials must  be  more  inclusive  of BME groups to gain the trust of these communities and to improve the efficacy of prescription medication. Improved promotion of these opportunities needs to be adopted in order to attract the participation of these groups. 

## **Participants activity** 

Due to the gap in provision our enquiries for support reach as far as London, Bristol, Blackburn, Preston, Bolton and Scotland. We have also received requests from New York, USA. 

During the period we have supported 135 service users via the following activities: 



- **Peer support groups** (Online, In-person, WhatsApp) to  connect to other people with similar experiences, reduce isolation and share self-care advice. 

- **1-to-1 Support** to support service users in achieving their skin health goals using a psychosocial coaching approach 

- **Wellbeing  courses** covering  the  psychological  issues  related  to  skin conditions e.g. support, stress, self-image, and the practical application of lifestyle approaches to managing skin health and wellbeing including diet, nutrition, hydration, exercise 

- **Ad hoc support** less frequent conversation with service users to e.g. vent frustrations, inform us of how they are doing, answer any queries 

- **General enquiries** members of the public and organisations making contact for advice and information including skin health, benefits claims, referrals, publicity 

## **Marketing Plan & Promotion** 

To raise awareness about our areas of work we have targeted various community stakeholders including Health Development Co-ordinator for Hulme, across North, South,  and  Central  Manchester;  Integrated  Neighbourhood  Team Leads across Central and South Manchester. I have contacted a number of GP surgeries to display our promotional material in their surgeries which has been met with a positive response, included sharing our patient referral process. 

During this period we have utilised our social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook, to raise awareness about GMESS. The types of information that we have posted include service user comments, funding announcements, wellbeing course, and other areas of our work. A number of our followers include Manchester Local Care Organisation, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, GP’s x 2, Big Life Group, and National Eczema Society. We have also utilised community radio stations in Central and North Manchester to promote our service user activities. 

## **Outcomes and Impact** 

## **Service User Case Study** 

The following case study is to demonstrate the impact of our interventions on the skin health of our service users, the main areas of impact being improved physical condition; reduced severity of the condition; improved mental wellbeing; increased confidence, self-esteem and social interactions; reduced visits to the GP; decreased use of prescription medication. 

## **Situation Prior to Joining GMESS** 

Rebecca (name changed) was unable to sleep and exhausted from having infected and broken skin. Her relationship was suffering as she wouldn’t take her clothes off. Her clothes and sheets had blood stains and she felt generally run down as her body was fighting the eczema. 

Mentally  she  was  depressed  and  at  one  point  suicidal.  She  ended  up  on antidepressants and signed off work for six weeks. Socially she wasn’t going out much and was declining doing activities with her friends. She said that she was miserable with her partner because she felt ugly. 

She was visiting her GP monthly in relation to her skin condition and was using several prescribed medications, including different emollients that weren’t great. She rated her skin condition as Moderate to Severe and her mental wellbeing as 3 on a 10-point scale. 



## **Interventions and Changes Made** 

Rebecca  received  1-to-1  support  with  a  GMESS  Support  Worker  where  she discussed what she was currently doing to manage her condition and options she could try. We discussed all aspects of her life enabling her to consider changes she could make and what she would be comfortable trying. We worked together on a new lifestyle plan, which would be implemented initially over 10 weeks. Subsequently she updated the plan with further changes she wanted to make over the next few months. 

Rebecca chose to stop using steroids and asking medical professionals for help. She started  focusing  on  the  holistic  picture  and  read  about  what  vitamins  and supplements nourish skin to treat her condition from the inside. She started taking shots of aloe vera juice/ apple cider vinegar and black seed oil in the morning alongside a number  of  different  vitamins and supplements  that she was recommended through the group and had researched. She cut out coffee, started to drink  more  water  (2  litres  a  day)  and  exercise  regularly.  She  attended  group sessions, speaking with peers about what works and what doesn’t work and the struggles of having eczema. She bought an ice roller to soothe her skin when itchy. 

## **Situation Subsequent to GMESS Interventions and Changes** 

Rebecca is now visiting her GP in relation to her skin condition only annually and describes her skin condition as Mild and her mental wellbeing an 8. 

She now uses no GP prescribed medications. 

She says, “Physically I went cold turkey on steroids as I realised that every time I used them my skin got worse after. When I was prescribed prednisolone, this was the catalyst that sent my mental health over the edge as I experienced side effects and was very emotional and erratic. 

Physically she now sleeps through the night, and her skin is 95% free of eczema with the occasional very small flare up. “I now know how to manage it without the use of medication. I am not itchy, and I am body confident.” 

She has had no further absences from work and feels that, whilst her mental health has been up and down with the ebbs and flows of life, it no longer affects her skin and she is no longer on anti-depressants or would herself depressed. “I also feel listened to, the group was a space where I could share concerns so, when it happens and I do have a flare up, I don’t feel like an alien with no cure.” 

She is clear that these are all outcomes from discussions in the GMESS group. “I was able to talk about my condition and not feel stupid for it affecting every part of my life. I have learnt that eczema affects everyone differently and there is not one cure or treatment, but a combination of lifestyle changes has supported a lot of people in the group.” 

“Socially I am now really comfortable and confident again. I also don’t worry as much about  having  a  flare  up.  I  still,  out  of habit,  take  Aveeno  moisturiser with  me everywhere. It has taken about a year for the skin on my face to look youthful again as I had wrinkles round my eyes but I now get told I look younger and I often get complimented on how clear my skin is.” 

“I am eternally grateful for the support and information I have received from the GMESS group. There are no quick fixes or cures to eczema and it is a very open platform  that  recognises  this,  including  discussing  medical  options  as  well  as 



completely natural. It is a really positive forum for looking at all the options and seeing eczema for what it is and learning how to manage it through making healthy changes. There is no one answer for everyone so having the forum provides a wealth of information.” 

## **Funding** 

GMESS secured funding from Manchester Clinical Commissioning group, Be Well Social Prescribing fund, GMCVO and Sports England Sports totalling £19,474 

## **Financial Review** 

GMESS does not currently have a reserves policy, this was reviewed and thought to not be needed ye, it will continue to be reviewed next year. 

Expenditure increased slightly this year as more funding was secured and activity increased.  The majority of this funding will be rolled over to the next financial year, as funding was for a 12 month period and didn’t mirror the financial years. 

The majority of expenditure is for the facilitation of groups and training and 1:1 activity.  This is paid for through a consultation agreement with he facilitator and CEO, agreed by all trustees.  Detailed financial breakdown below 

**2022-23 accounts** 



|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|**Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin support**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Receipts**|||**and payments**||**accounts**|||||
|**For the period from**|||**Apr-22**||**To**||**Mar-23**|||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**||**Restricted**<br>**funds**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**||**Total funds**||**Last year**|
||**to the nearest      £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**|
|**A1 Receipts**||||||||||
|Be Well|**2,500**||**-**||**-**||**2,500**|||
|CCG|**1,000**||**-**||**-**||**1,000**|||
|GMCVO|**9,987**||**-**||**-**||**9,987**|||
|MISC|**81**||||||**81**|||
|GM Sport|**5,906**||**-**||**-**||**5,906**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_<br>_AR)_|**19,474**||**-**||**-**||**19,474**||**-**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**<br>**(see table).**||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||
|cash|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**6,171**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**6,171**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**|**19,474**||**-**||**-**||**19,474**||**6,171**|
|||||||||||
|**A3 Payments**||||||||||
|Staffingcost|**6,181**||**-**||**-**||**6,181**||**-**|
|ICT|**383**||**-**||**-**||**383**||**-**|
|Publicity|**694**||**-**||**-**||**694**||**-**|
|Insurance|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|research consultancy|**120**||**-**||**-**||**120**||**-**|
|session materials|**456**||||||**456**|||
|volunteer costs|**120**||||||**120**|||
|session refreshments|**67**||||||**67**|||
|stationary|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**8,020**||**-**||**-**||**8,020**||**6,163**|
|||||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**<br>**purchases, (see table)**||||||||||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||
|**_Total payments_**|**8,020**||**-**||**-**||**8,020**||**6,163**|
|||||||||||
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**|**11,454**||**-**||**-**||**11,454**||**8**|
|**A5 Transfers between funds**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**A6 Cash funds last year end**|**8**||**-**||**-**||**8**||**-**|
|**_Cash funds this year end_**|**11,462**||**-**||**-**||**11,462**||**8**|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of theperiod**||||||||||
|**Categories**|**Details**||||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**||**Restricted**<br>**funds**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**|
||||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B1 Cash funds**|Bank||||**19,482**||**-**||**-**|
||**_Total cash funds_**||||**11,462**||**-**||**-**|
||(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))||||OK||OK||OK|
||||||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**||**Restricted**<br>**funds**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**|
||**Details**||||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B2 Other monetary assets**|none||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||||**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B3 Investment assets**|none||||**0**||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||||**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the**<br>**charity’s own use**|none||||0||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**||||**Fund to which**<br>**liability relates**||**Amount due**<br>**(optional)**||**When due**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B5 Liabilities**|none||||0||**-**|||
|Signed by one or two trustees on<br>behalf of all the trustees|Signature||||Print N||ame||Date of approval|
||||||Simon Kweeday||||28/12/2023|





|**Trustee name**|**Office**|**Dates acted if not for**<br>**whole year**|**Name of person (or**<br>**body) entitled to appoint**<br>**trustee**|
|---|---|---|---|
|Simon Paul<br>Kweeday|Chair|04/06/2020|Other trustees vote|
|Mohmed Hanif<br>Bobat||17/02/2021|Other trustees vote|
|Marcella Angela<br>Turner||28/08/2020|Other trustees vote|
|Muhammad<br>Aurangzeb<br>Shaikh||04/06/2020|Other trustees vote|
|Jeanette Letuina<br>StanleyJP||18/05/2021|Other trustees vote|



## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** 

## **Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved** 

- There are no corporate Trustees 

## **Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity** 

- There are no Trustees for the charity 

## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** 

- None 

## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members** 

- Paul Mattis CEO 

## **Exemptions from disclosure** 

- None 



**Declarations** 

**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** 

**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** 

**Signature(s) Full name(s)** Simon  Kweeday **Position (eg** Chair **Secretary, Chair, etc) Date** 30/12/23