 1. An elderly lady with mental health problems wanted to leave her abusive husband. She was referred to us by a nurse from one of the City hospitals. The lady couldn`t return to her marital home and would need to be rehoused. The staff in the hospital wanted to make sure that the lady’s voice was being heard according to her wishes and not what the staff thought was in her best interests. After the advocacy visits, the outcome was that she was re-located within 2 weeks to a nursing home close by to her sister. The lady has settled in very happily and is no longer an agitated lady. The partnership lasted 3 weeks and was then mutually closed.
2. An elderly gentleman wanted support to challenge the NHS Continuing Care Band for his wife who has Alzheimers. He asked for help with preparation to make an appeal and to have a supportive presence during a multi-disciplinary meeting about his wife. There were 2 advocacy meetings to set things up. The outcome was that the appeal was rejected. The gentleman had a chance meeting with a representative from Age Concern and was offered help to take his case further through legal proceedings. We mutually closed the partnership and the gentleman was very appreciative for the help he had for the initial stage of his battle.
3. A young lady asked if we could provide an advocate to support in attending an interview for claiming Benefits. She said she was agoraphobic but was willing to make an attempt to undertake a bus journey from her home into town, some 30 minutes travelling. She felt she needed an advocate to help her remain focussed on the issue. Fortunately, a successful outcome had been achieved, and four weeks later we had another enquiry from the same person, seeking advocacy around applying for a move in accommodation.
4. We were asked by an estate agent whether we could support an elderly woman with significant mobility problems to gain access to a solicitor. She wanted to sell her house so she could move into a ground floor flat which would suit much better. Her solicitor was stating that she had to have a formal photo ID such as a driving licence, passport or even shotgun license to comply with money laundering regulations. She was unlikely to ever need any of these documents but they were not prepared to consider other ways of working around this. In the end another solicitor took her on apparently quite able to work with her without those documents.
5.. Mr. M, whose wife was in Residential Care, asked for an Advocate to accompany him to a meeting at the Care Home. The Home Manager, two nurses and a Social Worker were also attending the meeting to discuss Mr. M.`s concerns and complaints he had with regard to the standards of care he felt his wife was receiving. He wanted the Advocate to help him remain focussed on the issues, because at a previous meeting at the Home, he felt he was wound up and lost self-control by shouting. As the meeting progressed the Advocate could see there was some degree of cultural misunderstandings in communication from both parties, and asked for clarification on the difficult points. The Advocate then reflected back to ensure the communication had been understood by both parties.
At the end of the meeting Mr. M felt pleased that he was able to get all his concerns understoood.
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