The Advocacy People
The Advocacy People are an independent charity that provides free, independent and confidential advocacy services. They were previously known as seAp but changed their name in early 2020 and are now known as The Advocacy People.
They provide independent advocacy services to help resolve issues or concerns you may have about your health and wellbeing or your health and social care services. Their aim is to ensure that:
- You are in control of decisions which are made about you
- Your experiences, views, wishes and feelings are heard
- You can contribute to improving the health and care services you use
How can The Advocacy People team help you?
We all know how hard it can be when we don’t feel listened to, when what’s important to us isn’t taken seriously by others, or we just don’t have the words to say what we really feel or want. It can be even more difficult when decisions are being made about our health and social welfare.
Advocacy can support you, or the people you care for, to speak up. Advocates are independent, they don’t make decisions for you or about you.
Every local authority area in England is required by law to have four specific advocacy services for adults, called statutory advocacy services:
- Independent Health Complaints Advocacy for people wishing to raise a complaint about an NHS service or service paid for by the NHS;
- Independent Mental Health Advocacy for people under section in a hospital, unit or in the community;
- Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy for people who have been assessed as lacking capacity to make certain decisions;
- Independent Care Act Advocacy for people who are being assessed for their care and support needs or their care and support arrangements are being reviewed, including carers.
In Kent, The Advocacy People deliver Independent Health Complaints Advocacy, Independent Mental Health Advocacy, Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy and Independent Care Act Advocacy. They also deliver some community, or non-statutory, services in partnership with Assert Advocacy, Disability Assist and Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD).