Fact Sheet 2. Consulting with service users
It is important to consult with service users when planning, developing, managing and reviewing information services. You should not only know your audience but also work closely with them. To find out if your information is accessible, relevant and easy to understand, consult with and get feedback from your information users.
A transparent and simple feedback and complaints procedure shows that your organisation is serious about providing the best information service possible.
Meaningful and appropriate consultation with service users and local communities is important in identifying how to provide information in the most accessible ways. As the National Disability Authority's Ask Me: Guidelines for Effective Consultation with People with Disabilities (2002) states: "Getting the consultation process right for people with disabilities means getting it right for everybody."
| "Monaghan local authorities define social inclusion as a process that aims to enable each individual to have equal opportunity of access to services, facilities and information and to have equality of opportunity to make decisions that affect their lives. They feel, "with regard to social inclusion, if the shoe does not fit, the shoe needs to change, not the foot." Monaghan local authorities have produced "Making Monaghan Accessible", their "Disability Act Implementation Plan 2007 - 2015". The plan sets out in detail how they will meet their obligations under the Disability Act 2005. They have, in the plan, committed to ongoing consultation with service users to ensure that they are reaching targets and goals set out within the implementation plan and to providing a range of services that are fully accessible to everyone. The implementation plan can be obtained from their Access Officer and is available in a number of different formats on request. |
Involving service users when monitoring and managing your service
There are many levels at which you can involve users in monitoring and managing your service:
- Individual level: individuals are directly involved in providing information. This could be in a one-to-one information session or when an individual uses one of your information services.
- Operational level: service users are involved in planning day-to-day information services.
- Strategic level: service users are involved in planning the future direction of the service.
- Governance level: service users and people from disadvantaged groups are involved in managing the service, for example, on the board of management, working groups or other consultative bodies of your organisation.
How can you get feedback on what you have done?
- Keep a record of the different information formats that people have asked for and used.
- Listen to what people say about the best way to provide information. Encourage people to make suggestions and propose changes.
- Have a system for feedback, for example provide comment cards or allow feedback on your website, so that information users can comment on the accessibility of your information service. Make sure that comment cards and websites are accessible.
- Ask information users to give you feedback on the different formats that you provide and how your existing information could be made more accessible.
- Consider how you can involve service users in the design of your service or the production of a new publication.
- Work in partnership with different organisations and groups to build understanding of the information needs of service users so that this can inform your work.
- Ask your service users what support they need in accessing information.
- Set up a quality circle or a user panel that represents different user groups.
- Involve representative organisations and people from disadvantaged groups in managing your organisation through membership of your Board of Directors, participation in committees or working groups, organisational reviews and evaluations.
| Co. Louth Citizens Information Service has produced an information book for parents of children with a disability. They consulted with the parents of children with a disability and asked them what difficulties they had in getting the information they needed. They also met with support groups and asked them what support they provided. This information, and information from different websites and government departments, was compiled into a book using simple, easy-to-understand language. Contact information for parent support groups was included. The book was launched by a government minister and distributed to support groups, disability groups and Citizens Information Centres across the country. |
Issues to consider when organising consultation events and focus groups:
- Are the questions clear and accessible to people with disabilities and to different minority ethnic communities?
- Do the questions posed and methods used make inappropriate assumptions or stereotype particular groups?
- Have facilitators been briefed about the objectives of the consultations?
- Are facilitators trained to be aware of disability and cultural issues?
- Have facilitators been recruited from disability and minority ethnic communities?
- Are consultation materials written in accessible, plain English and translated into relevant languages?
- Have the people who attended the consultations been given copies of the report or notes from the consultations in their preferred accessible formats?
Further resources
National Disability Authority (2002) Ask Me: Guidelines for effective consultation with people with disabilities
Combat Poverty Agency (2000) Guidelines on consulting with people who live in poverty
