Advocacy/Power of Attorney

 

Advocacy means having someone who will help you express your views and stand up for your interests if you need help to do this.

An advocate can help you gather and understand the information required to make decisions about your health and social care.  Examples may include:

• Helping you if you have difficulty in understanding and being involved in an assessment or a review of your support, and there is no one else appropriate to support you.   
• Helping you understand how to make a complaint, how to put together information about what you think has gone wrong and what you think should happen.

For further information on Advocacy you can visit the VoiceAbility and POhWER websites. These are organisations which provide advocacy services.

 

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 enables people to choose someone to manage their finances and property should they become incapable of doing so, or to make health and welfare decisions on their behalf. This needs to be carefully thought out and the best way to do this is to plan for the future by drawing up a legal agreement known as a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA).

A power of attorney is a legal document that allows someone to make decisions for you, or act on your behalf, if you’re no longer able to or if you no longer want to make your own decisions. There are two types of Power of Attorney;

• Property and Affairs 
• Personal Welfare 

You might need someone to make decisions for you or act on your behalf in a temporary situation, for example, if you're in hospital and need help with everyday tasks such as paying bills.

You may need to make longer-term plans if, for example, you have been diagnosed with dementia and you may lose the mental capacity to make your own decisions in the future.

Further information can also be found via the Office of the Public Guardian on the Gov.uk web pages.