Annual Review 2008
Independent Living
Aspire’s Independent Living Advisors meet with patients in Spinal Injury Centres, offering advice and guidance on any issues that are causing concern. Where they can’t use their own personal experiences or skills to help, they are able to signpost people on to other organisations who can assist. The end result is that patients leave hospital better prepared and more confident about the future.
We started the year with just one Advisor. But with his services in such demand, two new Advisors were quickly recruited to cover the Spinal Centres in the North of England. As we evaluated their work, and listened to the feedback from those patients who had used the service, it became clear that we had to ensure that every patient in the UK had the opportunity to talk to an Aspire Advisor. To help achieve this, we recruited a Services Co-ordinator to oversee the Programme, to recruit more Advisors, and to develop a full training plan so that our advice will always be of the highest standard.
As the Service expands, so we’ve looked to improve the way we monitor and track the issues that are brought to our Advisors’ attention. We developed plans for an online secure database that would allow our Advisors to add each interview directly to the central system – as the number of entries increases, so universal problems can be readily identified which is a valuable tool for our Campaigns work and in the development of new services. The database will also help improve the efficiency of referrals to our Human Needs and Aspire Housing Teams. After tendering the development of the database, and a rigorous testing period, our Advisors started using the database in January and we are already seeing the benefits. Plans were also initiated for an online community forum network, with funding for the project being put in place by the James Tudor Foundation.
At the end of the year we had four Advisors working at Stanmore, Stoke Mandeville, Cardiff, Oswestry and Southport Spinal Injuries Centres. With the Services Co-ordinator in post and looking to complete the team and map out a comprehensive training plan and the database improving the way we work across all Services, the Independent Living Team is set to make a huge difference to the lives of those with spinal cord injuries.
Part of Aspire's Independent Living Programme is generously funded by the Department of Health.