As the country comes out of the COVID pandemic, The Advocacy People is supporting the Island community to improve NHS services and ensure better healthcare.
The Advocacy People is a charity that can support you to make a complaint about an NHS service, or service paid for by the NHS, and get answers to your questions. This service is completely free of charge, independent of the NHS and confidential.
An advocate can help you explain why you are concerned about your healthcare and what you would like to see change. The Advocacy People helps by guiding you through the complaints process, giving you all the information you need (you can find self-help resources on their website) and providing practical support if you need it, such as writing letters and attending meetings with you. An advocate makes sure that you feel able to talk about your experiences.
The Advocacy People’s independent health complaints advocacy service is available here on the Isle of Wight.
Local advocate, Cherie Gallin, explains how she recently supported someone from the community with an NHS complaint:
“Mrs A asked The Advocacy People service in the IoW for help with a complaint about her GP. Due to delays and other issues with the GP surgery, Mrs A had to wait 6 months for support with her application for Personal Independent Payments. The surgery was unhelpful in this matter, causing delays and breaching her confidentiality by sending the information to the wrong place.
“In the end, Mrs A had to wait 6 months longer than necessary to receive her benefit payments. As her advocate, I supported Mrs A to make her complaint resulting in the surgery changing how they dealt with requests for support in applying for benefits and paying Mrs A £200 in recognition of the problems she had suffered”.
The Advocacy People work closely with our community organisations to ensure that Island residents receive the support they need.
Elizabeth Martin, Manager, Carers IW, says:
“Carers IW have a Carers Lounge at St Mary’s Hospital and we support unpaid carers. On occasion we advise carers to seek help from The Advocacy People if they are dissatisfied with any aspect of the care provided to their cared for person and unable to address this.
“The Advocacy People team works hard to support our carers and understands their concerns, pressures and helps them identify the issue and how it can be resolved. They work hard to support the carer in ensuring that our carers and cared for gets the best outcome.”
If you are concerned about the NHS care you or someone you know has received and would like to talk to someone about how to make a complaint, you can contact The Advocacy People by emailing [email protected], calling 0330 440 9000 (Open Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00) or by visiting www.theadvocacypeople.org.uk.
