We’re delighted that we’ve once more been awarded the Advocacy Quality Performance Mark (QPM) – demonstrating that we meet the high standards for independent advocacy set by the NDTi (National Development Team for Inclusion).
Advocacy is a vital service that gives people a voice, upholds their rights and supports them to express their needs, particularly when it comes to their health and social care.
We’ve been assessed against the principles set out in the Advocacy Charter – but what are they?
These core values are the ones that should underpin everything an advocacy organisation does, from setting up its systems and policies, through to the day-to-day activities of each advocate in their work.
They’re a call to action in our work, and a tool for us to constantly ask ourselves: how are we doing?
To gain their QPM award every three years, providers go through a rigorous self-assessment process, followed by thorough site visits where assessors meet with managers, advocates, and the people we support.
The report returned to us from the NDTi is equally thorough, and as well as highlighting the areas where we excel, it points out areas where we could be doing things better. We use the whole process, from the self-assessment workbook through to the final reports, as a way of reflecting upon and reviewing how we operate.
As an organisation whose job it is to be a critical friend of health and social care authorities, constructive criticism is also important to us to help our organisation grow. Our QPM feedback helps us have fresh eyes on the good things we could replicate and develop, and on how we might do things differently – and informs our action planning.
Advocacy is an important service that can have a profound impact on people’s lives. Not only that, in many cases it’s required by law, and the QPM gives local authorities, as well as the individual people we help, reassurance that they can trust in what we do.
“The Advocacy Quality Performance Mark is only awarded to organisations who can demonstrate that they are providing excellent services to people often experiencing challenging situations in their lives,” says Gail Petty, QPM Manager and Lead for Advocacy and Rights at NDTi.
“It indicates that they have the training and policies in place to ensure people’s rights are upheld and their preferences are heard and responded to.”
