National Disability conference 2010 Making Advocacy easy to access Judi strid Director of Advocacy

Community-based service  48 advocates in 25 community-based offices  Over half are Maori  6 specialist advocates for Deaf + refugee/migrant communities  Proactive visiting of vulnerable + remote consumers

Jewel in the Commisioner’s Crown  HDC divisions = strong crown  Nationwide advocacy community outreach = jewel in the crown

Advocacy Success 09/10 year  88% resolution rate so consumers with complaints can move on  5,606 total complaints  10,440 enquiries  29,887 calls to 0800 #  2,051 education sessions  4,363 networking sessions

The role of an advocate  Advocates work alongside consumers as agents for social change to  strengthen consumer voice  focus services on putting consumers first

Strengthening consumer voice  Speaking up programmes  Information + educate on rights  Every complaint is an opportunity for learning + quality improvement  Consumers to be central to service provision

Great Care Stories  Give power to consumer experiences of what services + care looks like when it is working well  Helps to focus services on putting consumers first

Great Care Stories  The Art of Great Care was officially launched by the former Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson in March The book is available online from the HDC web site and in hard copy from HDC.

Advocates: on the side of consumers  Being Proactive by going to consumers who are unable to contact an advocate themselves  Being Responsive to consumers who seek the assistance of an advocate

focus on vulnerable people  This systematic approach to visiting residential homes has helped us have a greater focus on vulnerable people who don’t find it easy to access an independent advocate.

Residential Visits  Advocates have now been visiting rest homes for four years  disability homes for three years.

Rest Home Visits  In the most recent reporting year (1 July June 2010), advocates made 2,943 visits to all of the 697 rest homes across the country.

Disability homes  A total of 2,807 advocacy contacts were made with all 884 of the individual disability homes/residential facilities.

Advocates as a resource The visits have provided:  opportunities for staff + residents to meet their local advocate  improve understanding of the advocate’s role + how an advocate can assist  how to contact the advocate 

Advocates as a resource  Residential staff now view the advocates as a resource to guide them in providing a quality service to residents in sometimes challenging circumstances.

Increasing visits  advocates will now be required to make two visits to 50% of residential facilities. They will still need to visit each home once and half of the homes a second time.

‘Speaking Up’ sessions  Free ‘Speaking Up’ sessions have been very popular  Most successful approach is a speaking up session for residents as well as one for the staff to focus on a safe environment for the residents to speak up in.

Tell Someone DVD  For people with a learning or intellectual disability in residential homes to learn more about their rights and how to get help when things go wrong

Tell someone DVD  Stories that show residents when their rights are not respected and what they can do about it  A focus on speaking up and telling someone  The different types of abuse  Best practice examples of rights being respected  Actors from actual residential homes

Getting it right for consumers  Providers are generally well intentioned and just get it wrong sometimes  Important to tell how it feels to not be listened to or treated with dignity.  Advocates can help consumers to speak up + have their say

Open Disclosure  New requirement of the revised sector standards that need to be met for certification + audited on.  Free open disclosure training for staff by advocates.  324 open disclosure sessions in 2009/2010 reporting year.  Most requests from the residential sector.

Being Responsive Enquiries  Answering questions about rights, linking consumers to local support groups + services  Assisting consumers to ‘find their way’ through confusing health and disability systems  Providing help to consumers unsure of who to contact

Being Proactive Being accessible to vulnerable and isolated consumers  Visiting rest homes and disability homes  Travelling to rural and remote towns to meet with local people.  Providing specialist advocacy programmes for Maori (marae- based), the Deaf community, refugee + migrant communities + people with learning + intellectual disabilities

Being Responsive  Networking  Meeting local people + groups to hear their issues and what they do  Increasing knowledge about the advocacy service + the advocate  Increasing knowledge about the rights

Being Proactive Assertive Networking  setting up new networks for the benefit of local consumers  Bringing together key people and groups with a shared interest in quality initiatives at a grass roots level.

Being Responsive Education  providing sessions for consumers + providers on the Code of Rights, HDC + advocacy  providing tailored sessions on particular aspects of the Code eg informed consent, advanced directives to different grps

Being Proactive Education  self advocacy training programmes to increase consumer confidence in advocating for oneself  promoting safe quality services to providers using the Code of Rights as a quality framework  promoting a consumer-centred approach by using great care examples as told by consumers

Being responsive Complaint resolution  Providing a simple speedy way to resolve complaints + conflicts between consumers + providers at an early stage  Rebuilding positive relationships that need to continue between consumers, family members and providers (eg rest homes, specialists)

Being Proactive Promoting quality improvement and consumer centred-care  promoting complaints as opportunities for learning and quality improvement  Using consumer stories and key messages to promote positive changes to services

Rights on Magnets Campaign  Making it easy to find the contact details for an advocate as well as a quick reference to the 10 consumer rights  Every fridge  Every filing cabinet

Contact an advocate on:  Freephone 