Advocacy for A New Age

(21 May 2003)

A new course launched at a London University has been hailed as a real landmark in the development of advocacy as a properly accredited profession.
It is an intensive one-year flexible learning programme for advocacy workers, called the Certificate of Higher Education in Advocacy, the first course of its kind in the UK.

Course leader Joan Fletcher says: "Advocates don't only help individual patients. They also assist clinical staff to provide more appropriate services to people who would otherwise miss out on the care they need. With patient-centred care the new mantra in the NHS, advocacy is an important way of ensuring people from disadvantaged groups benefit equally. This course aims to boost the competence, confidence and credibility of those working to safeguard the rights of others."

One of the first graduates from the course, Mary Mitchinson, believes that the course has given her a broader understanding of the issues facing patients, come of whom cannot understand their treatment or do not know where to go for help when they are diagnosed. "I learned that you have to look more deeply at all the aspects which cause problems for patients", says Mitchinson "It's not just a matter of fixing the 'presenting' problem for someone. I realised that patients and health professionals often talk different languages."

For further information on the Certificate in Advocacy, visit www.uel.ac.uk. Experience in advocacy is welcome but not necessary to undertake the course.

If you are interested in setting up a herpes patient advocacy initiative visit www.herpesalliance.org. The the IHA Mentoring pack is available in Resources.

Source: London Evening Standard, 12th May 2003.