Leading public sector and voluntary organisations in Nottinghamshire will be showcasing the county and city’s exemplar learning disability services this week (15 – 19 September 2008) to visitors from Bosnia Herzegovina to highlight examples of good practice and to form a mutually beneficial working partnership for the future.
Our visitors will experience first-hand some of the services and innovative projects that enable people with a learning disability to live fulfilling lives as independently as possible. The key organisations involved are Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council and Nottingham MENCAP who are all leading providers of care and services to people with a learning disability in the county.
The visitors are all part of an organisation called SUMERO who provide care for people with a learning disability and promote their rights in Bosnia and the intention is for a two way learning process to be established between the organisations. SUMERO hope to take their experiences from the visit back to help improve and develop their services and the Nottinghamshire organisation are looking to understand and learn more about how learning disability services are provided in another country.
The group of 10 consists of professionals (including translators), service users and carers and they will be spending the week visiting various locations across the county assisted by professionals from the different organisations. The visit has also been designed to be very visual and interactive so that as much as possible can be learnt and observed during the week.
John Ferris, a volunteer who was behind this visit from the beginning and has spent time working with voluntary organisations in Bosnia says: “This trip is a unique opportunity as Bosnians find it extremely difficult to get Visas for foreign travel unless it is for professional purposes or have family members abroad making this a very prestigious visit. Learning disability services are often seen as the poor relation compared to other health services resulting in them having to raise much of their own funding. Therefore the visitors are keen to receive publicity for this visit to help provide evidence and raise awareness for the extremely worthwhile work that they do.”
