Advocacy Services

These services provide independent advocates to help local older people speak up for themselves, and assert their rights, when decisions need to be made that affect their lives.

If you are aged 50 or over and need some help getting your views heard, our free and confidential service can assist you, whether at home or in hospital. For example, you may need help understanding some issues raised by:

• Social services, health ( hospital discharge, care packages)
• Housing issues, benefit issues, council tax issues
• Consumer issues

Our service is:

• Free of charge
• Provided by independent advocates
• Provided for an agreed time to meet individual requirement

What we do:

• We help you to find information and discuss your options with you

• We respect your point of view and represent your views

• We are independent and have no vested interests

We will:

• Take time to listen to you and discover your views and wishes
• Work with you, to help you make decisions
• Help develop your confidence by ensuring you are involved in any decision making about your future care
• Treat everything discussed with you in strictest confidence
• Be totally honest and open with you

Campaigning

Age Concern Slough and Berkshire East is working to ensure that our changing world takes account of the needs of older people. We are committed to campaigning on issues that affect older people.

If you have any issues you would like to refer to us please telephone 0844 815 9385

MCAP (Mental Capacity Advocacy Project)

This is a new project providing advocacy for older people who have a mental health condition. This may be some form of dementia or other mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, psychosis or neurosis.

The volunteer advocate will work alongside older people providing them with information, support and representation on specific issues and concerns that are affecting their lives.

Residential and Nursing Home Advocacy

This is a new project funded by Comic Relief to provide Advocacy for people in Nursing and Residential Homes in the Slough area. If you have any issues about a family member or friend, who is living in a nursing home or residential home, please contact the Nursing Home/Residential Home Coordinator at Age Concern Slough and Berkshire East on 0844 815 9385

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer to help in this exciting new project, please let us know. We give training in Instructed Advocacy and Non-Instructed Advocacy.

Hospital Advocacy

Our advocates funded by the PCT, work across our local hospital sites and health service assisting individual patients in a dignified and non-judgmental manner. They ensure that clients’ voices are heard and their needs are catered for, offering practical assistance with welfare benefits, housing issues and debts.

Staff work with Health professionals, older people and their carers/families to promote understanding of local and National NHS agendas and to ensure that these are implemented.

Community Advocacy in Slough

Our community advocacy service supports local people by giving them a voice and helping them to improve their lives. Telling others about care and treatment concerns is often difficult. Our Community Advocates help clients to make choices or represents their concerns if they feel unable to do so themselves.

Advocacy in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Working with our partners from the voluntary and public sector, we provide an individual advocacy service to older people in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Human Rights

We have international recognition for our incredible work in bringing Human Rights to our local older people.

We refer to the Human Rights Act 1998 to highlight infringements of many older people's rights in Slough and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and have been instrumental in showing authorities how they are failing older people in their own homes, residential homes and in hospitals.

In conjunction with The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and Age Concern England, we carried out training sessions to support a number of older people on Human Rights issues. The work undertaken by a group of dedicated volunteers has been very positive and has enabled older people to campaign and address human rights issues that affect their living conditions.

Human rights project

This is a new project to raise awareness of Human Rights issues for older people. Human Rights involve key principles such as dignity, respect, autonomy and equal treatment. The project will be led by a group of 20 older people. If you are interested in joining them please contact: the Advocacy Development Manager at Age Concern Slough and Berkshire East on 0844 815 9385.

For more information please telephone Karen Gilchrist on 0844 815 9385

Safeguarding

Safeguarding involves detecting possible signs of abuse, both physical and mental. Our staff have been trained to detect such signs, as well as the steps to take if they believe someone to be the victim of such abuse. We have been instrumental in raising awareness of safeguarding issues across East Berkshire. Our Chief Executive sits on Slough’s Safeguarding board and we are signatories of Slough’s safeguarding policy.