Disabled Children’s team in line for prestigious award

Calderdale Disabled Children’s Team has been short listed for the West Yorkshire Modernisation Awards 2005. The awards recognise and reward the success of NHS staff across the West Yorkshire area in improving services for local people. The Team was instrumental in setting up the Calderdale Parent Carers Council and has been nominated for one of eight top awards for NHS health and social care staff.

The Disabled Children’s Team is made up of learning disability nurses, social workers and occupational therapists. Collectively, they wanted parents and carers to have a say in service development and convinced parents that agencies providing services for disabled children genuinely sought and welcomed input from them.

The Calderdale Parent and Carers Council is now made up of over 100 parents and carers, and they consult their members about services and how they should be developed. The parents’ representatives contribute this perspective into the planning and development processes.

Disabled Children’s Team manager Dilys Hetherington said, “We feel honoured and very proud that the work of the Disabled Children’s Team and the Calderdale Parent and Carers Council has been recognised for this award. The Parent Carers Council are proactively involved and engaged in the development of services.”

This is the second year of the West Yorkshire Modernisation Awards and the ceremony takes place on Friday 11 March at Leeds United Football Club. Approximately 120 projects from across the region were submitted with the final difficult decision being made by a panel of judges made up of patients, service users and staff. The winners will be announced on the day and will receive £1000 to reinvest into their projects to continue to develop them.