Issued – Wednesday 18 April 2007, London, UK

Twenty-five community based charities have been rewarded for their community-based work, as GlaxoSmithKline awards a total of £265,000 at the annual GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards, run in conjunction with the independent health charity, the King’s Fund.

Celebrating their tenth anniversary, the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards recognise the work of small to medium-sized charities in improving the health of people in their local communities.

GlaxoSmithKline has over the last ten years given awards to 200 community healthcare charities in the UK with donations of over £2 million. This year’s awards range from £20,000 for the winning ten charities, £5,000 for ten highly commended charities and £1,000 for five runners-up. The funding is unrestricted which means the charities are able to spend the money as they choose.

The overall winner, which received an extra £10,000 on top of its £20,000 award, was Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence (ERIC). As the first charity - nationally and internationally - to focus on childhood continence, ERIC, based in Bristol, works to reduce the suffering caused to young people by enuresis and other bladder and bowl control problems.

Helping to present this year’s awards was Sir Christopher Gent, Non-Executive Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline. Commenting on the 10^th anniversary he said: “GlaxoSmithKline has a long history of supporting local charities working to increase the health of their communities. The GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards were created to support and boost the work of smaller organisations that often suffer from lack of resources and recognition. All of the winning charities this year have worked tirelessly in helping others and improving health conditions amongst local people. We hope the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards help raise awareness of the excellent work these charities are doing, and the importance of such organisations in ensuring the good health of people across the UK.”

Commenting on being named as the overall winner, Penny Dobson, Director of ERIC, which provides support for children suffering from incontinence, said: “We are thrilled to be the overall winner of the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards. This Award brings untold benefits to ERIC. It gives us national recognition for the work we do, and provides us with a large sum of money that will enable us to carry on delivering our services. Working in a charity you can become very wrapped up in your own work, so to have outside organisations visit us and provide invaluable feedback and advice makes us step back and actually realise the value of the work we are doing. Winning has given a huge boost to our small charity and it has brought a neglected area of child health into focus, which is tremendous.”

The Chief Executive of the King’s Fund Niall Dickson described the overall winner as an outstanding organisation which had made a real difference to the lives of thousands of children.

“This area is one of the last taboos and ERIC has made a huge impact both by providing direct support to children and their families and by making politicians and others in authority take notice,” he said.

The winning charities spread across a wide range of health-related issues, from a hospice at home service, sexual health education to counselling. The other nine winning organisations all received £20,000 and each demonstrates an impressive commitment to quality care in the communities they serve:

Hull Churches Home From Hospital Service provides free volunteer support to people returning home from hospital. Its support ranges from shopping, accessing welfare benefits to prescription delivery and befriending.

SOLVE IT in Northamptonshire, provides a service for young people, adults and professionals to educate them about the consequences of solvent and volatile substance abuse.

SAY WOMEN in Glasgow aims to support young women aged 16-25 who are homeless and survivors of childhood sexual abuse and/or rape. Principal activities include: provision of accommodation, resettlement, support and training.

Southampton Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service works to improve the lives of people who have suffered rape/sexual abuse. Main activities include providing advice, information and counselling services for males and females aged 12 and over in relation to any unwanted sexual experience.

Cornerhouse (Yorkshire) is based in Hull and works to reduce the incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV through education and outreach work in Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire. It provides a range of services including outreach; sexual health information for women working in the commercial sex industry; teen clinics; a help-line; one-to-one support and a fund for HIV people suffering hardship.

ESCAPE Family Support in Northumberland provides a range of services for drug and alcohol misusers, their families and carers. A 24-hour help-line; a respite caravan; diversionary activities; art therapy; complimentary therapy and counselling services are all provided.

West Cumbria Hospice at Home, based in Workington, Cumbria, provides end of life care in patients’ own homes. Services include day and night nursing; day care – providing a day out for patients and a day off for carers; complimentary therapies; a lymphoedema clinic; befriending and bereavement care.

Hounslow Youth Counselling Service in West London provides a free counselling service to people under the age of 26 who live, work or study in the London Borough of Hounslow.

The Metro Centre in Greenwich, London, offers mental health support, HIV prevention and sexual health services to lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

Enquiries:

Alastair Cartwright
PR for GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards
020 7486 6660
07917 40 30 90
alastair@healthsquared.co.uk

Photographs are available on request.

Notes to editors

About the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awards

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.

About GlaxoSmithKline

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 2006, GlaxoSmithKline’s global community investments were valued at £302 million (the equivalent to almost 4% of pre-tax profits) and targeted health and education programmes in more than 100 countries. GlaxoSmithKline has been the largest charitable giver in the FTSE 100 for five consecutive years.

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

About the King’s Fund

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.

For more information please visit: http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/