EEFO nominated for National Award

The groundbreaking EEFO Programme which seeks to improve access to services for young people has been short-listed for a prestigious 2008 Health Service Journal award. It has been selected in the category of reducing health inequalities and is up against five other entries from across England.

Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust’s EEFO Programme aims to reduce inequalities for young people aged 13 – 19. It aims to establish a countywide service for young people which addresses the barriers identified by national and local research which prohibit young people from accessing the services they need. 

If a service has been ‘EEFO Approved’, young people can be assured the quality of service they receive meets the expected level.  www.eefo.net provides accurate and up to date signposting to all services in Cornwall that have met the EEFO Quality Standards and are therefore ‘young person friendly’. It also contains a lot of useful advice and information on a wide range of issues that young people face during everyday life. 

The EEFO programme has adopted the groundbreaking approach of using young people as ‘mystery shoppers’ to anonymously test how helpful services are. 

The EEFO programme has already won the category of ‘Best use of Information Systems’ at the Children and Young people Services Awards 2007.

Emily Thomas, EEFO Programme Co-ordinator said “I am delighted that the EEFO Programme has been short-listed by the judging panel for providing excellent advice and guidance to young people. EEFO works because it is lead by young people and they have the power to say what works best for them and challenge what services are being offered.”

Director of Public Health at Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust, Cornwall County Council and the Council of the Isles of Scilly, Felicity Owen, said: “I’m very pleased that the hard work of the young people and staff involved has been recognised by the judges. Young people deserve to be offered services that match their needs and many services have welcomed the challenge from EEFO to change their approach.”

EEFO goes Mobile! You can now search and read content from this website on your web enabled mobile phones. Visit this site - www.eefo.net.