Frequently asked questions about Dewis Cymru
What is Dewis Cymru?
Why has it been developed?
So who is Dewis Cymru for?
You keep talking about ‘well-being’, but what does that mean?
So what well-being information does Dewis Cymru have?
Is Dewis Cymru bilingual?
Is it accessible for disabled people?
I look after someone, can Dewis Cymru help me?
How do I use Dewis Cymru?
I tried Dewis Cymru and couldn’t find what I wanted – what’s the point of that?
How confident can I be about the local services I find on Dewis Cymru?
What if I think the information in Dewis Cymru is wrong?
I run a service or community group, which helps people with well-being – why should I put my details on Dewis Cymru?
My business offers services, which help people with their well-being – can I add information about my business?
Is there a charge for adding my information?
That all sounds very nice but is anyone actually using it?
How do I know Dewis Cymru is here for the long term?
What is Dewis Cymru?
Dewis Cymru is a website that aims to help people with their well-being. It’s THE place to go for people who want information or advice about well-being – whether that’s their own well-being or the well-being of a family member or friend.
It’s got information that can help you think about what matters to you, and it’s also got information about over 6,000 local and national services that can help you with the things that matter to you.
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Why has it been developed?
One of the reasons for Dewis Cymru is the new law about social services in Wales – the Social Services and Well being Wales Act. This new law will make life better for people and their carers, by making sure people get the help they need to lead a good life.
More importantly, it’s here to help people work out what matters to them, and to give them information and services to help with their well-being.
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So who is Dewis Cymru for?
Dewis Cymru has been developed to help people find information about organisations and services that can help them take control of their own well-being, so Dewis Cymru is for YOU!
It is also useful for people like GPs, Librarians, Social Workers and lots of local organisations who offer information to the public as part of their work. So Dewis Cymru is for everyone!
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You keep talking about ‘well-being’, but what does that mean?
When we talk about well-being, we don’t just mean your health. We mean things like where you live, how safe and secure you feel, getting out and about, and keeping in touch with family and friends. No two people are the same and well-being means different things to different people. So Dewis Cymru is here to help people find out more about what matters to them.
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So what well-being information does Dewis Cymru have?
Dewis Cymru has lots of information about being well, being safe, being at home, and being social. It’s also got information about managing your money, and information if you look after someone else. It could be general information to help you think about what matters, or it could be something more specific - about the sorts of extra support that might help you live in your own home for as long as possible for example.
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Is Dewis Cymru bilingual?
Yes, the information pages are all available in Welsh and English, and we strongly encourage people putting information about their service to put it on in Welsh and English, and remind them that the law may require them to do so.
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Is it accessible for disabled people?
Yes – we’ve done lots of testing to try to make sure Dewis Cymru is as accessible as possible for disabled people. Dewis Cymru now has something called ‘browsealoud’, which enables the website to read its pages out loud to you! We’ve also got a video in British Sign Language to help deaf people understand what Dewis Cymru is and how it works. And we’re always interested to hear suggestions for how we could make it easier for disabled people to use. We have also produced a statement on accessibility, which can be viewed from the link at the bottom of each Dewis Cymru webpage.
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I look after someone, can Dewis Cymru help me?
Definitely. You can use Dewis Cymru to help you think about the well-being of the person you care for. But Dewis Cymru also has information to help you with your own well-being, because we know that although looking after someone can be very rewarding, it can also be demanding and exhausting. And as a carer you have certain rights, which Dewis Cymru can tell you a bit more about.
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How do I use Dewis Cymru?
There are different ways you can use Dewis Cymru to help you think about your well-being, and work out what matters to you.
So if you think you might need some help with your well-being but you’re not sure what matters to you the most, have a browse through the website. We’ve got pages about being well, being social, being at home, being safe, managing your money, children and families and looking after someone.
On most of the pages you’ll see a magnifying glass – click on it and we’ll tell you about services near you that can help you with whatever you’ve just been reading about.
If you already know what you’re looking for, you can search straight away to see what information we have and what’s available to help you in your area. For example if you want to know how to get your home adapted for a wheelchair user, just type in ‘wheelchair’. Dewis Cymru will search for information that will be useful to wheelchair users and tell you about the people, groups, and services in your area that might be able to help you.
You might be doing all this for someone else, perhaps someone who isn’t on the internet. So Dewis Cymru makes it really easy to print things off, or to email the results of your search to another friend or family member who is on the internet.
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I tried Dewis Cymru and couldn’t find what I wanted – what’s the point of that?
Dewis Cymru is a great website but it can only tell you about local services who’ve given us their details. That’s why it’s really important for anyone whose organisation has a service or resource that helps people, to put their details onto Dewis Cymru. But if you can’t find what you’re looking for, Dewis Cymru will always make sure it gives you a number to ring so that you can speak to someone in your local authority about what you’re looking for. And remember, the resource directory is getting bigger all the time so it’s worth coming back from time to time to see what’s new in your area.
And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, tell Dewis Cymru! We’re always working to improve the website so we love to hear from people with suggestions on how we can make it better. You can tell us by using the ‘Contact us’ link at the top of the Dewis Cymru homepage.
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How confident can I be about the local services I find on Dewis Cymru?
Although anyone can put details about their service into Dewis Cymru, no-one can see it until someone else has checked the details and approved it for publication. The person who does the checking will be someone in your area who works for a local authority or the third sector, and who knows something about the type of service whose details have been added. Of course, no system for checking can provide a cast-iron guarantee about the things included in any Directory of Services, and people have to take some responsibility for how they use the information they find on Dewis Cymru.
People and organisations adding information to the resource directory have to take responsibility for ensuring their information is accurate, and to confirm every six months that the information is still up to date, otherwise it disappears from view. This means people can have confidence in the accuracy of the resource information within the Dewis Cymru.
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What if I think the information in Dewis Cymru is wrong?
Please tell us. If you’re looking at information about a specific service, you can use the ‘Feedback’ link to let them know. Your feedback will be sent directly to them and won’t be visible on the site.
To tell us your views about the site generally, please use the ‘Contact us’ link at the top of the Dewis Cymru homepage.
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I run a service or community group, which helps people with well-being – why should I put my details on Dewis Cymru?
Lots of reasons. If you’ve got a service that helps people with their well-being, adding your details to Dewis Cymru will make it easier for the people who you want to help and support to find you. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, or whether you’re volunteers - things run by volunteers are just as important to us as things your local authority provide. Basically, if you help people with their well-being, Dewis Cymru wants to know about you and about what you do, so that we can put people in touch with you! Other good reasons to use Dewis Cymru include:
- It’s free
- It’s easy to register and put your details onto the site
- It will remind you every six months to check your details, so you’ll know they are up to date
- It provides maps and directions to help people find you
- It's already being used by many advice agencies to direct people to local services that can help them, so having your information on Dewis Cymru will mean that people can be directed to your service.
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My business offers services, which help people with their well-being – can I add information about my business?
Yes you can. Of course, your information will still have to be checked and approved for publication, but as long as you’re simply describing the service you offer you shouldn’t have any difficulties.
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Is there a charge for adding my information?
We do not charge individuals or individual organisations for adding their information to Dewis Cymru.
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That all sounds very nice but is anyone actually using it?
Most definitely – The site currently averages over 65,000 page views per month, and in March 2019 served up over 25.5million local services in search results across Wales! Each person who comes to Dewis Cymru stays for over 5 minutes – that might not sound much but it’s more than a lot of websites get and it shows that people who come to Dewis Cymru are finding it useful.
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How do I know Dewis Cymru is here for the long term?
Dewis Cymru is definitely here for the long term. Although some of the initial development of Dewis Cymru was funded by Welsh Government, the site is now owned and funded by local authorities across Wales. The cost per authority is very low, and we know authorities are very happy with what they are getting in return, especially as it helps them to deliver some of the new duties they have under the Social Services and Well-being Wales Act.
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