We know that the value and potential contribution of advocacy at all levels to making safeguarding personal is significant and that developing a clearer understanding of the definition and purpose of advocacy and the legal rights and responsibilities associated with it needs to be central to local action planning and improvement in practice.
Advocates play an often vital role within safeguarding adults; recognising and raising safeguarding concerns, supporting individuals through safeguarding processes, addressing systemic issues and feeding into Safeguarding Adults Boards.
CQC’s recent report, “Out of sight – who cares” report highlights that:
“Access to good quality advocacy is an essential safeguard for people, especially people who are non-verbal, or extremely mentally unwell, and may be unable to speak up for themselves. It gives people someone who can champion their rights, support them to have a voice, and to promote their needs and wishes where they are not able to do this themselves.”
It also states that, “Access to high-quality advocacy varied across the hospitals we visited and that the role of an advocate was not consistent.”
We must ensure that people who need and are entitled to advocacy get support that meets their needs and provides that essential safeguard.
Earlier in the year, NDTi worked with the LGA to learn from advocates in England about their experiences of Making Safeguarding Personal. These conversations explored enablers and barriers to involvement of advocacy in safeguarding adults to find out:
- What works?
- What gets in the way?
- What are the key issues we need to address?
- What might the range of stakeholders do to strengthen understanding of the advocacy role and to develop its potential contribution in safeguarding adults
The finding from these conversations has led to the production of a briefing which offers support to those who have duties to commission and arrange advocacy services and to the advocacy sector in its delivery.
The aim of the briefing is to support strengthening the role that advocacy (of all types) can play in safeguarding adults and specifically in making safeguarding personal.
Our hope is that the briefing generates multi agency conversations to stimulate local action to address some of the core messages in the briefing so that safeguarding outcomes are enhanced for people.
What actions can YOU take to take this forward?
Who else can you encourage to take action?
You can download the briefing here and find out more here.
Jane Lawson (previously LGA) and Gail Petty, NDTI’s Advocacy Lead will be presenting the briefing at the National Advocacy Conference on Friday 30th October.
In this session we will share what we learnt from advocates and the core recommendations from the briefing. We’ll then explore what actions advocates, advocacy providers and local stakeholders can take in order to ensure a greater and more effective role for advocacy in making safeguarding personal and enhance safeguarding outcomes for people.
Find out more about the session here.
