7. New publication for health professionals working with disabled children and their families  Louise Moffatt - Media Officer, Contact a Family writes - NEW PUBLICATIONS FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WORKING WITH DISABLED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES Two new publications that could prove essential to health professionals in their work with families with disabled children have been produced by national charity, Contact a Family. The first publication, entitled Parent Participation in health settings is a practical guide to involving parents in shaping service delivery, whilst the second is a leaflet for parents explaining how to assess the reliability of medical information on the internet. By providing examples of where parent participation has worked well in a variety of settings - community, hospital, national and around specific conditions - the Parent Participation guide provides ideas for consultation at a time when health services are increasingly required to involve parents.  Not only does recent legislation and government guidance make parent participation mandatory, but, as the guide points out, involving parents in service design results in better, more cost effective provision.  Designed to complement recent policy which states why health professionals should involve parents, the guide demonstrates how this can be achieved - often by employing very simple methods. The guide includes fourteen case studies, which cover, amongst other things, working with parents to produce information on local services; extending specialist play provision in children's wards; improving A&E departments and  establishing parents' forums which will influence services and policy across the whole range of issues affecting families with disabled children. Top tips advise on finding parents, and keeping them on board. The leaflet, Finding medical information on the internet, was produced in response to concerns from paediatricians and support groups who found that some parents were getting the wrong information from the web or were spending large sums of money on unnecessary treatment.   The leaflet contains a checklist of questions parents should ask when reading medical websites.  These include who produced the website, who is it for, and how recent is the information provided. Asking questions like this will help direct parents to websites produced by respected organisations, and rule out those containing unreliable information. Both publications have been produced as part of Contact a Family's Parents and Paediatricians Together project, funded by the Big Lottery Fund.  Both are free and are available from Contact a Family on 020 7608 8700.  For further information contact Louise Moffatt on 020 7608 8741. louise.moffatt@cafamily.org.uk. Contact a Family - http://www.cafamily.org.uk For families with disabled children 209-211 City Rd, London. EC1V 1JN Tel 020 7608 8700 Fax 020 7608 8701 Helpline 0808 808 3555 - free for parents and carers (10am - 4pm Mon-Fri) Minicom 020 7608 8702 Registered Charity No 284912 Company Limited by guarantee No. 1633333 Registered Office: 209-211 City Rd, London. EC1V 1JN
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