Reconstruct UK

EMAIL

info@reconstruct.co.uk

phone

(0)800 0209 858

Adults

OUR SUPPORT FOR THE ADULTS SECTOR

Available as a contracted service or on an ad-hoc basis, we offer a variety of Advocacy services for adults. Our services include:

  • Parent Advocacy – We support parents to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations to resolve issues that are negatively impacting their family. The aim of advocacy is to empower parents, so they feel part of the solution to achieve positive outcomes for the whole family.
  • Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy – We provide advocacy to those over 16 years of age who lack capacity to make certain decisions for themselves and do not have a close family member or a person who cares for them to support them.
  • Independent Mental Health Advocacy – Our advocates provide an additional safeguard for those who are subject to the Mental Health Act (2007), ensuring they are involved in decisions that are made about their care and treatment.

OUR SUPPORT FOR THE ADULTS SECTOR

Available as a contracted service or on an ad-hoc basis, we offer a variety of Advocacy services for adults. Our services include:

  • Parent Advocacy – We support parents to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations to resolve issues that are negatively impacting their family. The aim of advocacy is to empower parents, so they feel part of the solution to achieve positive outcomes for the whole family.
  • Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy – We provide advocacy to those over 16 years of age who lack capacity to make certain decisions for themselves and do not have a close family member or a person who cares for them to support them.
  • Independent Mental Health Advocacy – Our advocates provide an additional safeguard for those who are subject to the Mental Health Act (2007), ensuring they are involved in decisions that are made about their care and treatment.

Parent advocacy

Advocates work under the instruction of the parent to address the parents needs. They will not offer any advice or take any action without consent. They will not make judgements, offer their own opinions, or make decisions on the parents behalf.

Independent parent advocate can help parents to:

  • Effectively navigate systems including social services/education/health/housing
  • Engage with professionals when children are subject to a plan of support from Social Services including care and support and child protection
  • Meaningfully participate within meetings
  • Understand their rights and entitlements by providing information in an accessible way
  • Make informed choices
  • Express their views and wishes
  • Advocate for themself
  • Access other appropriate sources of support 
  • Understand professional reports, letters and correspondence 
  • To make a complaint about a service when appropriate to do so

PARENT ADVOCACY

Advocates work under the instruction of the parent to address the parents needs. They will not offer any advice or take any action without consent. They will not make judgements, offer their own opinions, or make decisions on the parents behalf.

Independent parent advocate can help parents to:

  • Effectively navigate systems including social services/education/health/housing
  • Engage with professionals when children are subject to a plan of support from Social Services including care and support and child protection
  • Meaningfully participate within meetings
  • Understand their rights and entitlements by providing information in an accessible way
  • Make informed choices
  • Express their views and wishes
  • Advocate for themself
  • Access other appropriate sources of support 
  • Understand professional reports, letters and correspondence 
  • To make a complaint about a service when appropriate to do so

INDEPENDENT MENTAL CAPACITY ADVOCACY

The role of the IMCA is to support CYP/ parents to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations where the referral states they lack capacity or have a mental health diagnosis.

This will also be required when the LPS process arrives in 2024, which will replace the DOLs framework.

An Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) is an advocate appointed to act on your behalf if you lack capacity to make certain decisions.

An IMCA should help you:

  • When an NHS body wants to provide serious medical treatment to you.
  • When there are plans to give you long-term accommodation in hospital (more than 28 days) or in a care home (more than 8 weeks). However, if the arrangements are urgent, the NHS body does not have to appoint an IMCA.
  • In some cases, if the professionals apply for a standard or urgent authorisation to deprive you of your liberty under the deprivation of liberty safeguards, you have the right to help from an independent mental capacity advocate with challenging an authorisation, even if you have a relevant person’s representative helping and supporting you to do this. Both you and your relevant person’s representative would be entitled to get help and support from an independent mental capacity advocate.

Your IMCA can:

  • Visit you in a care home, hospital or other place. If they have been appointed to help you, they should be able to speak to you in private, unless you want someone else there to support you.
  • Help collect relevant information about the decision that needs to be made about you – for example your health records.
  • Consult with health professionals providing your care and treatment, if you agree. If appropriate, they can consult other people who may be able to comment on your wishes, feelings, beliefs and values, if you are unable to comment yourself at the time.
  • Support you so that you can make decisions for yourself. This includes support like:
    • Identifying your wishes, feelings, beliefs and values, or what these would be if you had the capacity to make the decision
    • Telling you what your options are
    • If your decision is about medical treatment, they can suggest whether it would be useful to get another medical opinion about the treatment
    • Making sure that the best interests checklist has been followed, the least restrictive options for your care and treatment have been considered, and that the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice has been followed
    • Writing a short report with their findings, giving their opinion on how the decision should be made in your best interests.
  • Help you to make a complaint. If the IMCA believes that their opinion has not been taken into account by the health professionals, or if there is a disagreement between the professionals about what is in your best interests, they can:
    • Make a complaint to the NHS body (the hospital or trust) or the local authority, or
    • Take the matter to the Court of Protection for a decision.

Who is eligible for?

You have the right to an IMCA in these situations:

  • If you are 16 or over, lack capacity to make certain decisions for yourself and do not have a close family member or a person who cares for you to support you.
  • If you have no one to represent your views and an NHS body or local authority is reviewing or planning to review your accommodation, or it would be helpful to you when there is an allegation that you have been abused.

INDEPENDENT MENTAL CAPACITY ADVOCACY

The role of the IMCA is to support CYP/ parents to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations where the referral states they lack capacity or have a mental health diagnosis.

This will also be required when the LPS process arrives in 2024, which will replace the DOLs framework.

An Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) is an advocate appointed to act on your behalf if you lack capacity to make certain decisions.

An IMCA should help you:

  • When an NHS body wants to provide serious medical treatment to you.
  • When there are plans to give you long-term accommodation in hospital (more than 28 days) or in a care home (more than 8 weeks). However, if the arrangements are urgent, the NHS body does not have to appoint an IMCA.
  • In some cases, if the professionals apply for a standard or urgent authorisation to deprive you of your liberty under the deprivation of liberty safeguards, you have the right to help from an independent mental capacity advocate with challenging an authorisation, even if you have a relevant person’s representative helping and supporting you to do this. Both you and your relevant person’s representative would be entitled to get help and support from an independent mental capacity advocate.

Your IMCA can:

  • Visit you in a care home, hospital or other place. If they have been appointed to help you, they should be able to speak to you in private, unless you want someone else there to support you.
  • Help collect relevant information about the decision that needs to be made about you – for example your health records.
  • Consult with health professionals providing your care and treatment, if you agree. If appropriate, they can consult other people who may be able to comment on your wishes, feelings, beliefs and values, if you are unable to comment yourself at the time.
  • Support you so that you can make decisions for yourself. This includes support like:
    • Identifying your wishes, feelings, beliefs and values, or what these would be if you had the capacity to make the decision
    • Telling you what your options are
    • If your decision is about medical treatment, they can suggest whether it would be useful to get another medical opinion about the treatment
    • Making sure that the best interests checklist has been followed, the least restrictive options for your care and treatment have been considered, and that the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice has been followed
    • Writing a short report with their findings, giving their opinion on how the decision should be made in your best interests.
  • Help you to make a complaint. If the IMCA believes that their opinion has not been taken into account by the health professionals, or if there is a disagreement between the professionals about what is in your best interests, they can:
    • Make a complaint to the NHS body (the hospital or trust) or the local authority, or
    • Take the matter to the Court of Protection for a decision.

Who is eligible for?

You have the right to an IMCA in these situations:

  • If you are 16 or over, lack capacity to make certain decisions for yourself and do not have a close family member or a person who cares for you to support you.
  • If you have no one to represent your views and an NHS body or local authority is reviewing or planning to review your accommodation, or it would be helpful to you when there is an allegation that you have been abused.

INDEPENDENT MENTAL CAPACITY ADVOCACY

The role of the IMHA is to support adults to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations where the referral states they have a Mental Health diagnosis and is or was held under the Menal Health Act 1983.

IMHA’s could also be required for young people who are held in secure locations.

An Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) is a specialist advocate. The right to an IMHA was introduced in 2007 under amendments to the 1983 Mental Health Act. This gave legal rights to IMHAs which are not available to other advocates.
These rights mean that IMHAs may:

  • Meet qualifying patients in private.
  • Consult with professionals concerned with the patient’s care and treatment.
  • See any records relating to the patient’s detention, treatment, or after-care, for the purpose of providing help to the patient and where the patient consents.
  • Request access to records where the patient lacks capacity to consent, if accessing the records is necessary to carry out the functions as an IMHA.

IMHAs can help people who use services to understand:

  • Their legal rights under the Mental Health Act
  • The legal rights which other people (e.g., nearest relative) have in relation to them.
  • The particular parts of the Mental Health Act which apply to them.
  • Any conditions or restrictions to which they are subject.
  • Any medical treatment that they are receiving or might be given, and the reasons for that treatment.
  • The legal authority for providing that treatment.
  • The safeguards and other requirements of the Act which would apply to that treatment.

IMHAs will also help people to exercise their rights, which can include supporting them to self-advocate and/or representing them and speaking on their behalf.
IMHAs can support people in a range of other ways to ensure that they can participate in the decisions about their care and treatment.

Who is eligible for?

People who are eligible to use IMHA services in England are:

  • People detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 amended in 2007 (even if on leave of absence from the hospital), but excluding people who are detained under certain short-term sections (4, 5, 135, and 136)
  • Conditionally discharged restricted patients
  • People subject to guardianship.
  • People subject to supervised community treatment orders (CTOs)

Other patients, who are informal, are eligible for IMHA services if they are being considered for section 57 or section 58A treatment (i.e., treatments requiring consent and a second opinion). This includes people under the age of 18 who are being considered for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

INDEPENDENT MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY

The role of the IMHA is to support adults to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations where the referral states they have a Mental Health diagnosis and is or was held under the Menal Health Act 1983.

IMHA’s could also be required for young people who are held in secure locations.

An Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) is a specialist advocate. The right to an IMHA was introduced in 2007 under amendments to the 1983 Mental Health Act. This gave legal rights to IMHAs which are not available to other advocates.
These rights mean that IMHAs may:

  • Meet qualifying patients in private.
  • Consult with professionals concerned with the patient’s care and treatment.
  • See any records relating to the patient’s detention, treatment, or after-care, for the purpose of providing help to the patient and where the patient consents.
  • Request access to records where the patient lacks capacity to consent, if accessing the records is necessary to carry out the functions as an IMHA.

IMHAs can help people who use services to understand:

  • Their legal rights under the Mental Health Act
  • The legal rights which other people (e.g., nearest relative) have in relation to them.
  • The particular parts of the Mental Health Act which apply to them.
  • Any conditions or restrictions to which they are subject.
  • Any medical treatment that they are receiving or might be given, and the reasons for that treatment.
  • The legal authority for providing that treatment.
  • The safeguards and other requirements of the Act which would apply to that treatment.

IMHAs will also help people to exercise their rights, which can include supporting them to self-advocate and/or representing them and speaking on their behalf.
IMHAs can support people in a range of other ways to ensure that they can participate in the decisions about their care and treatment.

Who is eligible for?

People who are eligible to use IMHA services in England are:

  • People detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 amended in 2007 (even if on leave of absence from the hospital), but excluding people who are detained under certain short-term sections (4, 5, 135, and 136)
  • Conditionally discharged restricted patients
  • People subject to guardianship.
  • People subject to supervised community treatment orders (CTOs)

Other patients, who are informal, are eligible for IMHA services if they are being considered for section 57 or section 58A treatment (i.e., treatments requiring consent and a second opinion). This includes people under the age of 18 who are being considered for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).