Domestic abuse self-help guide receives praise

From left, NTW information officer Gwen Illingworth, NTW Patient Information Centre manager Karen O'Rourke, Skills for People Newcastle quality checker Anthony Fothergill and NTW senior information officer Barbara Charlton.

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust’s Patient Information Centre has been highly commended in the British Medical Association Patient Information Awards 2016 Easy Read category for its work on an easy-read guide about domestic violence and abuse.

The guide, entitled Domestic Violence and Abuse – Easy Read Information, has been specially designed by clinicians and people with learning disabilities themselves to be easily understood.

Using simple language and pictures, it offers advice on how to recognise if you are a victim and who can help.

Research has found that people with an intellectual disability are 1.6 times more likely to experience violence than those who do not have an intellectual disability.

The manager at the Foundation Trust’s Patient Information Centre, Karen O’Rourke, said: “We are so pleased this booklet has been recognised as something that can really help people with learning disabilities understand some of the complex issues surrounding domestic violence and abuse.”

She added: “Ensuring that information about health and wellbeing is accessible to as many people as possible is something we focus on at the NTW Patient Information Centre. This praise from the BMA PI Awards is great encouragement that we are on the right path.”

The NTW Patient Information Centre provides a central point of access to appropriate information about health and related services to help people better understand and take control of their health and their treatments.

The leaflet is based on a self-help guide written by Dr Lesley Maunder and Dr Lorna Cameron, consultant clinical psychologists who have experience working in this field. It was adapted by voluntary organisation Skills for People Newcastle, then further adapted by NTW’s Easy Read Health Information Group.

The Skills for People programme committee, made up of about 14 people with learning disabilities, checked over the guide to make sure it was suitable and accessible for its intended audience.