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8.30am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday
Our advocates are throughout New Zealand. We talk to people about solving problems with their health or disability care. Our team help people work out what they need to do to get the care they are seeking.
Our focus is on being friendly, respectful and professional. We can work with anyone in the community and have working relationships with health and disability providers. We need to be able to do this to bring people together to talk through problems and find a way forward.
There are times when we are not able to help. This can be because the problem is not about health or disability care. But we always do our best to help people find another way to get help or speak up for themselves.
Empowering people:
Our service is about empowering people to speak up about their care. To do this we help people to work out what their own strengths are. Our service wants you to be able to use the Code of Rights to sort out problems at the time. To do this we focus on what could help and what questions to ask. We want you to know what your options are.
We know that it is important to say what didn’t go well but to then look for positive ways forward.
Our Advocates are great at:
Our process is a quick and successful way to sort out problems. This is because we help people explain what they are unhappy about to the right people. When concerns are explained, providers can help find solutions.
What we want to see happen:
To do this our advocates use complaint processes that help find solutions. We call this resolution.
Our service wants to let people know about the Code of Rights and how to raise concerns. To do this we have education options that we use to suit whoever we are speaking with.
You are welcome to use one of the contact options to speak to one of our team about what we can offer you.
In 1988 Judge Sylvia Cartwright made recommendations after the Cervical Cancer Inquiry. There had been an imbalance of power between health professionals and their clients. The aim was to address this by giving us all Rights when we receive health care.
Legislation was then developed to give us these Rights. The Health and Disability Commissioner’s Act 1994. There was also a need for independent advocates to help people raise their concerns. This is also covered in the legislation.
Advocacy services were set up across the country when the Code of Rights came into effect in 1996.
In 2006, one national service was set up by National Advocacy Trust.
