Annual Review 2008
Assistive Technology
When you are in hospital for months at a time, having access to the outside world provides a massive boost. But computer facilities in Spinal Centres are often sadly lacking, and even when they do exist they can be a struggle for those with higher level injuries and limited dexterity. Aspire provides computers that come equipped with assistive technology that means that anyone, regardless of the level of their injury, can independently use a computer.
We started the year with Assistive Technology suites in six of the Spinal Injury Centres around the UK. By May we’d opened further facilities in Cardiff and Belfast and, towards the end of the year, looked further afield and launched our Service in Dublin. This was the first time we had ventured into the Republic of Ireland and we did so in response to calls from the Occupational Therapy Team there; they had seen for themselves what a massive difference such facilities make to the lives of patients and wanted to be able to offer something similar.
Our new facilities make the most of both the vast experience we have gleaned from our years of providing assistive technology and the new computer equipment that is readily available today. As a result, these new installations were much improved on our original suites, not least because we were able to offer 24 hour access. Unsurprisingly, the feedback we received from the patients was that this new and improved service was quickly considered an essential tool and we set about bringing the older facilities up to a similar level. With funding from the Ian Karten Trust, we were able to upgrade our original six facilities to include wireless broadband internet access – patients at those Centres can now use Aspire laptops on the wards at a time of their choosing. As well as providing a more flexible service, this also means that, for the first time, patients on bedrest are not excluded from using a computer.
We work closely with the NHS staff and recently asked the Occupational Therapists how many of their patients were using the Aspire facilities. We were delighted that, on average across the eight Centres in England and Wales, nearly two-thirds of patients were using our computers. The actual number is likely to be even higher as those patients who only use the technology outside of normal working hours wouldn’t have been picked up. But sometimes it’s not about figures – hearing how we’ve made a difference by enabling someone to retrain for future employment, or kept them in touch with loved ones during the months in hospital, reminds us that what we do is vital.
The funding towards the support of the programme’s twenty two volunteer trainers is generously provided by the James Tudor Foundation.
