OXFORDSHIRE ADVOCACY

[Registered Charity No: 1131403]

[Co. Ltd. by Guarantee: 6845465]

Chair's Report 1st April 2009 - 31st March 2010

Company limited by Guarantee: we have completed out first year in our new status as a company developing our systems to meet the new expectations. We registered our new name with the Charity Commission in August and received our new number.

Offices/Administration: We continue to be based at Barton Neighbourhood Centre. Our administrator Louise who had efficiently established the essential back up administrative system for the rapidly expanding work left us in November 2009. She was replaced by Rebecca Norris in a new role of Volunteer Co-ordinator and Administrator in March 2010.
Thank you to Phil Wigg who has continued to volunteer his time to help update and maintain our IT system.

Manager’s post: After working for Oxfordshire Advocacy (OA) since the beginning Nigel Parsons has decided to retire from the post. He has steered OA from a small voluntary organisation to the complex company limited by guarantee with charitable status that it is today. We extend our thanks to him and wish him well in his retirement. He will be replaced by Jez Newall who took up his appointment on 1st April 2010.   

Training: We have continued to train all our volunteer advocates and Trustees.  Our volunteers’ training is formally credited by the Open College Network.  Staff have attended additional internal and external courses to update and develop their expertise.

Policies: OA has continued to revise/update and write new policies as it becomes necessary with the development of the organisation.

Fund Raising: This was another difficult year for the Vice Chair and Manager who sought funding for the service. In addition to the continued support from Oxfordshire Social and Community Services we were successful in our bid to Oxfordshire Learning Disability Partnership Board and received a 2 year grant which will enable us to continue our Parent Project. We also received a grant from Feoffes of St Michael and All Saints Church, Oxfordshire Community Housing Association and AW60 Charitable Trust. We also continue to receive a grant from Comic Relief.  We extend a huge thank you to our supporters as without them we would not be able to continue/develop the service in Oxfordshire.

Publicity: We have produced 2 newsletters which have been well received. Thank
you to Gill Howe for all her time in the production of them.  Our leaflets for the services are distributed in the County and are being updated to reflect our new status.  The web site www.oadg.org.uk is also used and is being updated. We have also taken other opportunities to tell people about our services – this has included attending Charlbury Street Fair, giving talks to Rotary Groups in Banbury, Didcot, Oxford City and Witney and attending a voluntary Organisations Forum organised by Cherwell District Council.

News from the Schemes:  the scheme co-ordinators have written annual reports which are available.
Citizen Advocacy for People of Oxfordshire with a Learning Disability Community (CAPOLDC): Julie Walters and Gillian Jones are the Coordinators. The work has continued to develop and has with the support of the Partnership Board grant has developed the Parent Project – advocacy work with parents with a learning disability.
Oxfordshire Short Term Advocacy Scheme (OSTAS): Naomi Karslake and Yanina Carling are the Coordinators. The service is issue based and the range of issues dealt with cover legal concerns, relationships, accessing services, physical and mental health issues and housing.
All-age Dementia Advocacy Project (ADAPt): Julia Hamer-Hunt is the coordinator. The work has involved a publicity drive to a range of care homes combined with improved networking as part of the Oxfordshire Dementia Network and this has resulted in a wider distribution of referrals.
Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA): Helen Bloomfield Senior Practitioner/IMCA worker provides and oversees this service. It has continued to develop this year as more people became aware of the service. A lot of time is spent on publicising the service, training as well as in its provision to the individuals who need the service.
Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA): The OA part of this service was provided Naomi Karslake, Yanina Carling [leads], Julia Hamer-Hunt and Helen Bloomfield. The service came into being in April 2009. OA provided the service for people with learning disability and dementia as part of the main contract that was awarded to Oxfordshire Mental Health Matters [MHM].

Work with other Organisations: Peggy Holland has continued her work facilitating a Mental Health Service Users Group. We had regular meeting with Social and Community Services Officers who monitor our contract. We would wish to thank Jenny Fonge who retired in December 2009 for all her work and support to O/A over the years. She was replaced by Anya Herklots in January 2010.

Trustees: The Trustees have continued to be busy working many hours [a recent survey showed some 2000 hours over the year] leading the organisation through another year of development.

Thanks:  the Trustees have many people to thank – the staff team whose hard work, commitment, enthusiasm and creativity ensures that the service continues to meet the needs of the individuals with whom we work across Oxfordshire, our book keeper Michael Ling, all our Volunteers who work many hours [a recent survey of one scheme showed 1000 hours had been contributed by the volunteers] enabling people to have their voice heard, our Manager supported by our Senior Practitioner who sees to the overall coordination of our work and also supports the Trustees and to our financial supporters without whom we would not be able to offer the service to the people of Oxfordshire.

On a personal  note as this is my last Chair’s report I would like to say a huge thank you to the Trustees for the many hours of work they put in and in particular to Hilary Pogge Vice-Chair for her support and for all her additional work in fundraising. I could not have asked for a more committed and supportive team of people to work with who have willingly given of their time and I have appreciated all their many and varied contributions.
  
Jill Parker
May 2010

OXFORDSHIRE ADVOCACY

[Registered Charity No: 1131403]

[Co. Ltd. by Guarantee: 6845465]

Chair's Report 1st April 2008 - 31st March 2009

It is traditional in an annual report to say that the last year has been very busy and hard work for everyone but this year it has again been very true with many changes and challenges for us to meet some of which are outlined below.

Company Limited by Guarantee; The organisation is now incorporated and registered the name as Oxfordshire Advocacy in March 2009, Company No: 6845465. We must now re-register with the Charity Commission, after which we will have a new charity number.

Offices/Administration: We continue to be based at Barton Neighbourhood Centre. Our Administrator Louise provides valuable support to the organisation and is using systems to organise and collect information. She has also updated and maintains the website. Thank you to Phil Wigg who has volunteered his time to help update and maintain our IT system.

Staff Changes: This year has seen several changes. Sarah McKearney and Ginny Black resigned, Anne Ashley completed her time limited contract and Julia Hamer-Hunt commenced working full time.

Training: We have continued to train all our volunteer advocates and Trustees. Our volunteers’ training is formally accredited by the Open College Network. Staff have also attended internal and external courses to update and develop their expertise.

Policies: OADG has continued to revise/update and write new policies as it becomes necessary with the development of the organisation.

Fund Raising: This was a difficult year for the Vice Chair and Manager who sought funding for the service. We were successful in our bid to Oxfordshire County Council Learning Disability Partnership Board and received a grant for 1 year which will enable us to appoint a second worker to the CAPOLD service. We were also successful in receiving grants from the following: AW 60. Charitable Trust, Oxford Citizens Housing Association, and the Feoffes of St. Michaels and All Saints Church.  We extend a huge thank you to our supporters as without them we would not be able to continue/develop the service.

Publicity: We have produced 2 newsletters which have been well received. Thank you to one of our trustees Gill Howe for all her work. Our leaflets for the service are distributed and regularly updated. The web site www.oadg.org.uk is also regularly updated. We also attended Charlbury Fair and have given talks about our work at local Rotary Groups.

News from the Schemes: the Scheme Coordinators have written annual reports which are available. CAPOLD Community Coordinators – Julie Walters, Sarah McKearney [left August 2008]; CAPOLD Hospital Coordinator – Anne Ashley completed her contract March 2009; OSTAS  Coordinators – Naomi Karslake and  Yanina Carling; ADAPt Coordinators – Ginny Black [left July 2008] and Julia Hamer – Hunt. Senior Practitioner and IMCA worker – Helen Bloomfield. Manager – Nigel Parsons. The staff  have all been actively involved in the continued development of OADG and the training, supporting and supervising of the volunteer advocates.
CAPOLDc : this work has continued to develop despite a staff shortage since August.  The coordinator Julie Walters will be joined by Gillian Jones at the end of April 2009.
CAPOLDh: this service continued through the year with Yanina covering during Anne’s period off sick due to a serious car accident. The scheme has now closed as we were unable to locate any further funding.
OSTAS: this area of work continues to develop – the issues that people request support with are very varied relating to financial, housing, medical to name but a few.
ADAPt: this service has enabled people to be involved in making decisions about their lives.
IMCA: this service has continued to grow this year as more people have become aware of it. A lot of time continues to be spent on publicising the service, as well as in its provision.

Work with other Organisations: Cottsway Housing Association-facilitating tenants to express their views about future development. June Smith carried out this work.
Mental Health Matters to discuss joint provision of the Independent Mental Health Advocacy service. Mental Health Service Users Group facilitation. Peggy Holland is doing this piece of work. Social and Community Services Adult Placement Panel – facilitation of Service Users to enable their attendance and participation in the panel. We also have regular meetings with Social and Community Services officers who monitor our contracts.

Trustees: We were sorry to say goodbye to Mervyn Stanley who was our Treasurer for many years – we extend our thanks to him. We were pleased to welcome Greville Trevelyan as a Trustee in October 2008.

Thanks: the Trustees have many people to thank – our staff team whose hard work, enthusiasm and creativity ensures that the service continues to meet the needs of the individuals with whom we work across Oxfordshire, all our volunteer advocates who work with such commitment enabling people to have their voice heard, our manager supported by our senior practitioner who sees to the overall coordination of our work, and also supports the Trustees, and to our financial supporters without whom we would not be able to offer the service to people in Oxfordshire.

On a personal note I would like to say a huge thank you to the Trustees for the many hours of work they put in and in particular to Hilary Pogge as Vice Chair for her support and for the work she does in fund raising. I could not have asked for a more supportive team of people who willingly give of their time and I appreciate all their many and varied contributions.

OXFORDSHIRE ADVOCACY DEVELOPMENT GROUP
[Registered Charity No: 1015858]

Chair’s Report 1st April 2007 – 31st March 2008

It is traditional in an annual report to say that the last year has been very busy and hard work for everyone but this year it is very true with many changes and challenges for us to meet which are outlined below.

Offices/Administration – We have 2 rooms at Barton Neighbourhood Centre which have been reorganised to accommodate new staff. We appointed an administrator this year who has been an asset in supporting staff and in using systems to collect information. Thank you to Phil Wigg who through the IT4 Communities scheme has volunteered far more of his time than we could have ever expected to help set up and maintain our IT system.

Staff Changes – This year has again seen several changes. Helen Bloomfield was appointed as Senior Practitioner and IMCA worker: Louise Longson as part time Administrator; Ginny Black returned from maternity leave; Julia Hamer-Hunt to work alongside Ginny for the ADAPt service: Julie Walters joined us to work alongside Sarah for the CAPOLD community service.

Training – We have continued to offer training to our volunteer advocates and Trustees. Our volunteers' training is formally accredited by the Open College Network. Staff have also participated in internal and external course to update and develop their expertise.

Policies – OADG has continued to revise/update and write new policies as it becomes necessary with the development of the organisation.

Fund Raising – This continues to be a major part of our activity with our committed Trustees and our Scheme Manager who form an active sub group researching possible funders and writing/sending off the applications. We were successful in our bid to Comic Relief and received a grant for 3 years which enabled us to appoint a second worker to the ADAPt service. We were also successful in receiving an award from the Feoffes of St. Michaels and all Saints church which will be used for training.  We extend a huge thank you to them for their hard work as without them we would not be able to continue/develop the service.

Quality Assurance – We have continued to use the ‘Practical Quality Assurance System for Monitoring Small Organisations’ [PQASSO]  to monitor our organisation and have achieved level 1 and have almost completed level 2 and parts of level 3. We also had a visit from the National Development Officer of Action for Advocacy [A4A] to go through a health check questionnaire on the service. His written comments were” I was very impressed with your organisational standards and would see Oxfordshire Advocacy Development Group well placed to achieve any future advocacy quality mark” We also spent time updating the Business Plan.

 
Publicity- We have produced 2 newsletters which have been well received. Leaflets etc. for the new IMCA service.  Our web site www.oadg.org.uk is regularly updated. We attended 4 publicity events – Didcot Fayre; Charlbury Fair; and 2 Race Equality Days [1 in the City 1 in the North of the County]

News from the Schemes – The scheme coordinators have written full scheme reports which are available. CAPOLD Community coordinators - Helen Bloomfield [transferred to IMCA July 2007] Sarah Mckearney, Julie Walters [March 2008] CAPOLD Hospital coordinator - Anne Ashley. OSTAS coordinators -  Naomi Karslake, Yanina Carling. ADAPt coordinators – Ginny Black, Julia Hamer-Hunt. IMCA – Helen Bloomfield.  All staff are managed by our scheme Manager.  The staff have all been actively involved in the continued development of OADG, and the training, supporting and supervising of the volunteer advocates.
CAPOLD – this work has continued to develop despite the staff shortage whist we were appointing Julie. The Hospital based service has also become established and is enabling people to have a voice to have their views heard.
OSTAS – this work has developed – the issues continue to be very varied within a range of situations relating to medical, financial and housing to name but a few.
ADAPt – this service has continued and has enabled people to be involved in making decisions about their own care whatever their ability. We anticipate an expansion during 2008/9 with the appointment of the second worker in February 2008.
IMCA – this service is continuing to grow as people become more aware of it. A lot of time has been spent on publicity/training in numerous locations e.g. Hospitals, GP surgeries, Day Centres, Oxford Brookes School of Health and Social Care.
Work with other Organisations – Social and Community Services – we worked with individuals in Bicester Day Centre supporting them to express their views about the future development of the service. June Smith carried out this work.  We had a meeting with Age Concern exchanging information about our services and this will continue in 2008.
Trustees – We were delighted to welcome Martyn Bishop as a new Trustee and Greville Trevelyan as a co-opted member of the Management committee.
Thanks – the Trustees have many people to thank – our staff team whose hard work, enthusiasm and creativity ensures that the service continues to meet the needs of the individuals with whom we work, all our volunteer advocates who work with such commitment enabling people to have their voice heard, our manager who sees to the overall co-ordination of our work and supports the Trustees and to our financial supporters without whom we would not be able to offer the service to people in Oxfordshire.
On a personal note I would like to thank the Trustees for the many hours of work they put in and in particular to Hilary Pogge as Vice Chair and for the additional work she does in finding financial support and to Mervyn Stanley as Treasurer. I could not of asked for a more supportive team of people who willingly give of their time and I appreciate all their many and varied contributions.    
  

Jill Parker
May 2008

OXFORDSHIRE ADVOCACY DEVELOPMENT GROUP
(Registered Charity No: 1015858)

A.G.M.  13.7.06

Chair’s Report  April 2005 – March 2006

It is traditional in an annual report to say that the last year has been a hard working and active one but this year it is more true than ever before with many changes and challenges for us to meet, as outlined below.
Office Move – at the end of March OSTAS (Oxfordshire Short Term Advocacy Scheme) moved from its base with the Mental Health Resource Centre in Paradise Street to join our other two schemes CAPOLD (Citizen Advocacy for People of Oxfordshire with Learning Disabilities) and ADAPt (All–Age Dementia Advocacy Project) at Barton. Though we were sad to leave Paradise Street where the support of Jon Hyslop and his team had been much appreciated, the advantages of having one office base is already being felt.
Community Fund good news - we were delighted to learn in December that we had been successful in securing a three year lottery grant to enable us to expand the CAPOLD service to offer advocacy to some of the most disadvantaged citizens in our community – people with learning disabilities in hospital care, many of whom are detained under the Mental Health Act (more of this later in the report).
Lord Chancellor’s visit – although this visit in September was relatively brief we were enormously encouraged by the fact that the Lord Chancellor had chosen to visit OADG as a mark of his interest in grass roots work which supported and promoted the rights of citizens to be heard and their views taken into account whatever their circumstances. It was a lively meeting with Lord Falconer asking some very perceptive and searching questions to which our staff responded with their usual aplomb!
Seminar at Unipart – as part of our drive to give OADG a higher profile we hosted an information giving seminar to which over 100 people, who had an interest in our work, were invited. We were particularly grateful to Unipart who donated the use of their splendid conference centre to us for the occasion. Although we did not get the numbers we had hoped for, we did have an appreciative audience and were able to present the different aspects of our work, which included a lively role play by the staff to demonstrate the way that advocacy can make a difference. It also brought us some useful publicity in the Libraries and a donation for equipment.
Staff Changes – this year has seen a number of staff changes starting with Jean Ware –Morphy, the ADAPt advocacy worker who left in June. Jean pioneered this new service and established its firm foundation for which we were very grateful. Lesley Sutton who replaced Jean brought with her a rich background of experience, both practical and academic in the field of dementia. We were very sorry to see Lesley go in December for family reasons and as she had been a committed, imaginative and tenacious advocate. We are however delighted that she is keeping in touch in a voluntary capacity. We were fortunate enough to appoint Ginny Black to the post bringing a wealth of experience with her including having been a charity administrator, a human resources assistant and an English language teacher in Africa and Europe. Ginny also had been a regular OSTAS volunteer for many years.
At the end of March we were able to appoint Anne Ashley as a second worker for CAPOLD to develop the new hospital based service. Anne also has a great deal of experience to offer including working for Oxford Brookes as a community liaison officer, teaching and working abroad in Africa and the Pacific and is a trained counsellor and mediator. Anne will start work with OADG in May 2006.
Training – this year the training has continued to be a major part of the support offered to volunteer advocates. The regular follow up sessions have been well attended with advocates appreciating the chance to meet together and share ideas and experience. Another first this year was the tailor made advocacy course offered to the workers of the Oxfordshire Befriending Network (OBN) who are setting up an advocacy service as part of the work they do with people facing life threatening illnesses.  The six session course was much appreciated by the participants who commented on its ‘excellent quality’ (OBN AGM report) and were very positive about the way the trainers (Jenny and Helen) helped them to develop the skills and understanding they needed to set up their own service. Another new step was taken in March when it was agreed that the accreditation of the training by the OCN (Open College Network) should become an integral part of training and not just an optional extra. This is designed to give more support to the volunteers and enable them to be assessed as appropriate advocates more thoroughly. Once again our grateful thanks to Maire McSorley for her valuable support as external assessor this year.
Policies – OADG continues to revise and update its policies and we are very grateful to Keith Tibbs, an ex OADG Chair for his time and expertise when he reviewed the entire policy set and made suggestions about overlap and lack of coherence. This proved a very useful and constructive exercise.

Mental Capacity Act 2005 – OADG attended the series of seminars about the development of the new system of independent mental capacity advocates (IMCA)  required under the Act for anyone without relatives facing a major life decision either in relation to medical treatment or a move of residence. We also commented on the draft guidelines that were circulated but decided after much discussion not to tender for a pilot IMCA as the funding was uncertain and the time constraints appeared too short to be effective.

Fundraising – this continues to be a major part of our activity with a dedicated sub group regularly researching possibilities and sending off applications. We have been successful in achieving the community fund grant, a grant from Awards for All and are very grateful to Oxfordshire County Council Social and Community Services department who continue to be our primary supporter and without which we would not be able to sustain an organisation from which to attract other funding.

Quality Assurance – responding to the need to be able to assure our membership and our funders of the quality of the service we offer we have been developing an effective monitoring system through the PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Monitoring Small Organisations). A seminar was held on Dec 6th led by a team of trustees and staff and this work is being developed into a tool to suit our organisation.
Publicity  - this is central to our service and much work has been put into developing a new set of eye catching leaflets and launching our Spring newsletter. We have just launched our website www.oadg.org.uk which is very exciting. It is still in the process of being ‘tweaked’ so any comments on it’s content will be gratefully received.                                  
News from the Schemes –  the co-ordinators will be presenting verbal reports at the end of the AGM meeting and written reports are available. The three schemes – OSTAS - co-ordinators Jenny Lewis and Naomi Karslake: CAPOLD - co-ordinators Helen Bloomfield and (from May 2006) Anne Ashley, and ADAPt - advocacy worker Ginny Black are managed centrally by Nigel Parsons. The staff have also been actively involved in the development of OADG’s policies and guidelines.
OSTAS – this has been a year of consolidation and development. Thanks to the work of Jenny and Naomi, there has been 50% increase in the number of referrals taken, the number of advocacy partnerships is also high and there has been a steady stream of volunteers undertaking training. The issues dealt with were wide and various within a range of situations relating to housing, money, legal positions etc as detailed in the report.
CAPOLD – again there has been an increase in the number of new partnerships supported, together with the continuation of ongoing support for existing longer-term partnerships.  Helen has undertaken a number of partnerships herself in an effort to reduce the waiting list, which is a result of increasing demand coupled with the perennial difficulty in recruiting volunteers for longer term work. It is to Helen’s credit that CAPOLD has 22 active partnerships on her books. Advocacy in this area is time consuming because time has to be spent on every enquiry finding out if the person wants an advocate, and if advocacy is appropriate, before any advocacy work can be started. An exciting move forward has been development of a ward based service for people in learning disability hospitals, of whom many are detained, a gap which we have long been concerned about.
ADAPt – the fact that this service has continued steadily to increase despite the staff changes is a real tribute to Lesley and Ginny also to the sound foundations on which the service was built. Through Ginny’s work, there  has been an increasing awareness of the need for advocacy in hospital and residential care and of people with dementia’s right to be involved in decisions about their own care whatever their ability.
Trustees – we were delighted to gain 3 new trustees this last year – Jill Parker, Rob Eachus and Katharine Krebs all of whom have brought their particular experience and skills to OADG ranging from business skills, teaching, learning disability service provision, management skills and experience as an OSTAS advocate. We were sorry to lose Dr Jim Watson due to pressure of work and Janet Groom who retired at the last AGM as both  had been hard working and committed trustees Janet since 1998 and Jim since 2003 .We wish them both well.
Roy Lewis – in April last year we were all enormously saddened by Roy’s death, Roy had been a founder member of OADG and its Vice Chair for many years. His unfailing support and good humour, his deep and personal understanding of disability and his wide Oxfordshire network left a big gap for us. Our sympathies go to his family particularly Myrtle and Kay who have given us so much support themselves.

Thanks – the trustees have many people to thank - all our volunteer advocates who work with such commitment, energy and vision to provide a service, which we think goes to the heart of human rights – the right to be listened to, taken into account and to be treated with respect; our staff who work with such enthusiasm, creativity and patience and our manager Nigel Parsons who sees to the overall co-ordination of our work and tirelessly supports the trustees. On a personal note I would like to thank the trustees for their unfailing support and hard work and in particular Hilary Pogge (Vice Chair), Patricia Stanley (Secretary) and Mervyn Stanley(Treasurer). You couldn’t ask for a more supportive team and I am very grateful.

A.G.M. 14.7.05
Chair’s Report April 2004 - March 2005