How can community advocacy help me?
Community advocacy can help carers to know their rights, make informed decisions and get their voices heard. An advocate will not make decisions for you or tell you what to do but will help you to explore your options. They can also help you to communicate with professionals and organisations, including making contact on your behalf.
POhWER
POhWER is a charity offering free, independent and confidential advocacy, information and advice. It offers a number of different types of advocacy services, suitable for a variety of people. For example, their Care Act Advocacy service could help you when you are having a carer’s assessment, or their NHS Complaints Advocacy service could support you to make a complaint about the healthcare you or the person you care for have received.
How to get in touch with POhWER:
Call: 0300 020 0092 (Buckinghamshire) or 0300 456 2370 (general)
Email: [email protected]
Website: POhWER.net (Buckinghamshire)
Self-advocacy
As a carer, it is also important for you to know your rights and to be able to speak up for yourself and the person you care for. Carers Bucks has some information on carers’ rights to help you get the support that you need – click here for more information.
Carers Scotland (part of Carers UK) has created a self-advocacy guide for carers. Whilst some of the legislation may be specific to Scotland, much of the information in this guide will still be relevant and useful to carers in Buckinghamshire. See Being Heard: a self-advocacy guide for Carers in Scotland.