More Advocacy service success stories

Crisis averted relationships re-built & glowing praise received after strong partnership working with CCBC Social Services & Housing!

Our Advocate was working alongside a Lady who cared full time for her elderly Mum. It was decided that a referral to Social Services would benefit both ladies so that Mum could go to a day centre for social interaction and the Daughter could get some much needed respite. The Daughter has health complaints herself and they were not being helped by the additional strain of assisting her Mum to move around the house. Both women consented to our Advocate making a referral to Social Services.

Unfortunately just before we were due to meet with the Social Worker the relationship broke down between the two. The Mum had decided that she didn’t want to see the Social Worker and had a row with the Daughter. The row had been so intense the Daughter contacted our offices to say that she was going to have to walk away. Following a few urgent discussions Social services were involved and emergency carers put in place so that Mrs K was not left alone but that our client could get that urgent rest she needed away from the house.

The women were unable to reconcile their differences so our Advocate worked very closely with the Social Worker and the local Housing office to arrange alternative accommodation for Mrs X so that she could move out of our client’s house allowing her to move back in.

After about 10 days a flat in sheltered accommodation was found and Mrs X moved in. Our client was able to move back into her house and start to rebuild her life. It has allowed the women to rebuild their relationship in a much less fraught environment. Our client felt much more empowered following our help and is willing to do a digital story of her experience. This will be happening very soon.

In the lady’s feedback form her comments were ‘Every person who helped me was wonderfull. Could not ask for better. I thank them so very much. A wonderful service.’

Knock, Knock who’s there……

The advocacy service has supported a gentleman who is wheelchair dependent this month, he was concerned that he could only establish who was knocking his front door after opening it and realised that he was potentially putting himself at risk by doing this.

The advocate contacted the ‘Bobby Van’ scheme who agreed to visit the same week, a security chain was fitted to the front door and a mirror that enabled the client to see who was calling prior to opening his door.
The client has informed the advocate that his issue had been resolved quickly and that his concerns about answering the door to strangers had been significantly reduced.

A slippery problem resolved!

The Disability Can Do Advocacy service has recently resolved a slippery problem for a gentleman who cares for his disabled wife. The rear entrance to the sheltered housing complex where the couple live is frequently used to access the main street and local shops by all of the residents, unfortunately the property next to the entrance had a rain water downpipe that emptied directly onto the pavement outside the rear gate. During the winter the whole area outside the entrance freezes over and becomes a real slip hazard, several of the residents have had falls and near misses over the years.

 The  advocacy service was contacted this summer to see if they were able to resolve the problem prior to the cold weather setting in this winter. Our advocate contacted the home owner and explained the situation; fortunately he was happy for us to arrange for a handyman to redirect the downpipe away from the entrance area. The advocacy service managed to obtain the materials needed for the job and someone to carry out the work, it turned out to be a ten minute job that resolved the problem completely. The couple who asked us to help and several of the other residents were delighted that the danger of falling on the ice this winter was no longer a concern.

A carers worries put to bed!

A Lady had recently been thrown into a caring role for her husband who suffered a serious stroke 6 months ago. After 3 months in hospital the Lady wanted to have her husband home from hospital and was willing to take on the caring role so that they could be a family again especially in time for Christmas. Following some advice from her occupational therapist and the hospital discharge team the service user went to her local bed superstore to get an adjustable bed suitable for her husband’s new physical needs.

Very upset and vulnerable She wanted the bed as soon as possible and so was convinced by the sales advisor to purchase a bed that she could only view on a computer screen that would be delivered asap from another store. She signed up to a hefty finance agreement as she could not afford the bed outright.

When the bed arrived it was far too high and not at all suitable. The bed was 11 inches higher than her husband’s wheelchair so he was unable to transfer from the one to the other. When she bought the bed she was informed that she could return it if it was unsuitable. When she went back to the shop to do this she was told otherwise. She was greeted with a very hostile attitude and didn’t receive any help at all in returning the bed. She had the same attitude when she contacted the Head Office.

By the time she contacted Disability Can Do she really was at the end of her tether. Still very upset about her husband’s condition she found it difficult to talk to our Advocate about it and was clearly very distressed that she was going to have pay for a bed that she was never going to use. She said she felt utterly ‘isolated and helpless’. Our Advocate attempted to contact the Head Office and was greeted with the same hostility and unhelpful attitude. She then proceeded to write a letter of complaint detailing all of the issues and explaining how vulnerable the Lady was and how she had been taken advantage of.

The bed company have now reassessed their situation based on the ‘distant selling regulations’. They have cancelled the contract and finance agreement and are going to collect the bed within 7 days. The Lady is really pleased with the outcome and finally feels like a massive weight has been lifted which enables her to concentrate on her caring role and the needs of her husband.