Improving access to information for users, carers and professionals
What is DIP? The Disability Information Project is a new resource aimed at providing up-to-date information for anyone who needs it. Funded by Hertfordshire County Council’s Adult Care Services, it links partners from the voluntary, statutory and business sectors including the county’s main physical disability and sensory loss organisations, the NHS and District and Borough Councils. The DIP is a direct result of the 2001 Best Value Review of Services to People with a Physical or Sensory Disability, which recommended that access to information for users, carers and professionals should be improved.
What does the DIP cover? DIP is involved in the development of the Herts Direct web site to include information specific to disability issues and advice as well as working with the organisations above to ensure that information is available to people when they need it and in the most appropriate format.
As part of the Project, Adult Care Services Day Services are being developed to offer services including equipment displays, advice and assessment, advisory clinics, and outreach services. In time, Day Services will work with the Primary Care Trusts to set up facilities such as multi-purpose rooms for rehabilitation.
How can I contribute? Improving the quality and availability of disability information – and with it the lives of disabled people throughout the county – is at the heart of the DIP. So if you are involved in providing a service to people with a physical or sensory disability, if you know of a group or individual who is involved in one, or if you or someone you know is working on a similar information project, please contact DIP Information Co-Ordinator Averil Robertson on 01727 813807, by fax on 01727 845480, or via e-mail at info@dish4info.co.uk.