After several months' hard work, the Grampian CareData team is pleased to announce the arrival of our new web site. We believe we have kept the user-friendliness of the old site and added new features that will make it easier both to find the information you are searching for and to add or update information of your own.

Take some time to look around, although we hope it won't take you long to become familiar with the way everything works. There are several options for searching and for filtering your results ? do click on the help links if you need more information.

All search results contain contact information and a description which, in many cases, may be all you need. However, if you want to know more, click on the record title. This will either take you to full details held by Grampian CareData or via a link on the next page directly to the relevant pages of an external website (so you won't have to start the search all over again).

The observant among you may have noticed that we stopped updating our old site at the end of September. We obviously wanted to bring you the new site as soon as possible but we were also keen to allow our information providers to be able to update so that the information on our database remains current, increasing the pressure to move to the new site.

Because of this, at the time of our launch, the site is functioning correctly but is not completely finished. Please bear with us while we attend to all the details. There are some aspects we are not sure we are satisfied with ourselves (will we ever be?!) but we would still welcome your feedback. It may be on our 'to do' list already ? or it may be something we have missed altogether. Your opinions and comments will help us to build the site the way you want it. Send us an email, drop us a line or pick up the phone as we?d love to hear from you.

Our thanks go to our software and systems developers, Third Eye Vision (3EV) of Brighton. They have patiently and diligently aligned their vision with ours and have helped us firmly establish our footing in the 21st Century. Not to mention coping with our quirkier requests without ever making us feel a nuisance. Good job lads!

Thanks also go to our funders, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council without whose vision this was way back in 1989 and their support ever since, the service would not exist. And finally, thanks to Aberdeenshire Library and Information Service for giving us a home.