Our Advocacy services help people with mental health issues make their views heard and break down the prejudice they can encounter. This is part of our commitment to involve service users in how mental health services are designed and delivered at both a national and local level.

Through our Advocacy services, we now support more than 850 people across the country. We aim to support people in an environment where they feel safe and comfortable, so we carry out this work in a wide range of settings, from hospitals to the community. We also provide Advocacy services in a number of secure mental health facilities, including two of Britain’s high security hospitals: Rampton and Ashworth.

We have a strong reputation in advocacy and carry out our services to the latest best practice guidelines, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the highest quality support available.

The Service’s Independent Mental Capacity Advocates work with people who – for reasons such as learning disability, dementia, mental health problems or brain injury – are unable to make specific decisions about the following areas (as set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005):

• serious medical treatment
• accommodation changes that are for more than 28 days in hospital or eight weeks in a care home
• accommodation reviews
• adult protection.

Local service (Kirklees, Wakefield).

See contact details above

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Referrals accepted from: People can be referred to the service by staff from Kirklees and Wakefield Councils and their health partners, including:

• doctors and nurses providing serious medical treatment
• social workers or community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) who are arranging hospital discharges
• social workers, CPNs and care managers who are planning long-term moves
• social workers and care managers who are undertaking adult abuse investigations.

(These people are known as ‘decision-makers’ under the Mental Capacity legislation.)

The advocate will usually only be involved if there are no appropriate family or friends that can represent the person. The
exception is issues related to adult protection when an Advocate may be consulted regardless of whether the individual has family members or friends.
The Service is staffed by a manager/advocate and three Independent Mental Capacity Advocates.
Our partners in running this service: Kirklees and Wakefield Councils

27/11/2013