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IMCA pilots
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Last modified date:8 March 2007
As part of the development work in implementing the IMCA service, seven IMCA pilots were set up in January 2006 to help identify the practical issues involved in implementing the IMCA service from April 2007 when the Mental Capacity Act comes into force.
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"IMCA has the potential to become a key element in how society shows its respect for the autonomy, rights and protection of some of our most vulnerable citizens": Advocacy Partners |
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The pilot organisations are:
Advocacy Matters: Warrington, Cheshire
Advocacy Matters is an independent provider of specialist advocacy services. Established in 2001 the organisation delivers commissioned advocacy services mainly to people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 in forensic secure units. The organisation also delivers advocacy services in the independent sector, and other health and social care environments. Areas of special interest include non-instructed advocacy, training, and supporting clients to self-advocate.
Contact:
Room 4, Bronte Unit
Hollins Park Hospital
Hollins Lane
Winwick
Warrington WA2 8WA
Tel: 01925 664000 ext 3260
Fax: 01925 664446
Advocacy Partners: Worcester Park, Surrey
Advocacy Partners promotes the rights, voices and choices of people with learning disabilities, older people, and people with physical disabilities or mental health needs. We provide independent advocacy to enable people to have control over their lives, make decisions, be treated fairly and participate fully in community life. The first organisation of its kind in the UK, Advocacy Partners has been providing services to people in South London and Surrey since 1981. We are currently providing a pilot IMCA service in Croydon. Advocacy Partners is a registered charity 802342 and a company limited by guarantee.
Contact:
IMCA office:
Orchard Hill
Fountain Drive
Carshalton
Surrey SM5 4NN
Phone: 020 8642 9418
Fax: 020 8770 8175
Email: teresa.g@advocacypartners.org
Head office:
Phone: 020 8330 6644
Fax: 020 8330 6622
Email: info@advocacypartners.org
Cambridge House Advocacy: Camberwell, London
Cambridge House was established in 1889 as a lay settlement to support and develop the activities of the Trinity College Mission (which emerged from Cambridge University Trinity College) in its work to combat the effects of poverty and deprivation in the poorest parts of South London. The organization formed part of the Settlement Movement.
Cambridge House today is a multi-purpose voluntary organisation working in Southwark to alleviate the local effects of poverty and to support social change.
We do this through the direct provision of services to individuals, families and communities, and by operating as a local neighbourhood resource and development agency, providing support to local community groups, voluntary organisations and community initiatives.
Cambridge House has twenty years of providing good quality advocacy to a wide range of people, including those with learning disabilities, mental health and substance misuse service users.
Contact:
IMCA: Vicky Cowin
Programme Manager: Jenny Clark
Phone: 020 7703 5025
Fax: 020 7703 2903
Dorset Advocacy: Dorchester
Dorset Advocacy has worked with people who have learning difficulties for the past 13 years, creating advocacy partnerships through which individuals can speak up, protect their rights, and play a full part in the life of the community. It supports both volunteer and professional advocates, and has set up a number of innovative projects, including the Supporting Parents Advocacy Network (SPAN).
Contact:
Dorset Advocacy IMCA Service
Dorset Advocacy
3 Princes St, Dorchester
Dorset DT1 1TP
Tel: 01305 251033
POhWER: Hertfordshire
POhWER the advocacy agency has been providing advocacy and empowerment services for ten years. The organisation now provides local and regional advocacy services in the East of England, London and the West Midlands. POhWER staff enable clients to get their voice heard and their choices and preferences understood through providing advocacy tailored to the needs of individual clients. POhWER services are free, confidential and independent. They are delivered in accordance with policies and national Codes of Practice and to the standards required by national quality awards. Feedback on POhWER services is used to understand where services are valued by clients and respected by stakeholders and where improvements can be made. POhWER's IMCA pilot service covers the whole of Hertfordshire.
Contact:
POhWER the advocacy agency
Lime Way
Harperbury
Harper Lane
Radlett
Hertfordshire WD7 9HQ
Tel: 01923 859186
Fax: 01923 427332
Minicom: 01923 427279
Fiona Clark, Chief Executive
Carol Warren House
551 Lonsdale Road
Stevenage
Hertfordshire SG1 5DZ
Tel (direct line): 01438 726990
Fax: 01438 351297
Skills for People: Newcastle Upon Tyne
Skills for People is a user-led, voluntary organisation based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Since 1983 we have been supporting disabled people speak up and take more power and control over their own lives. Our dream is a world where all people are treated fairly; people are not left out because they are different and disabled people are strong, confident and living their lives they choose.
The Advocacy Project at Skills for People has provided advocacy for a range of people who lack capacity for more than a decade. The project has been influential in improving local services for disabled people, and the IMCA pilot has enabled us to inform national policy and contribute to the development of future IMCA services.
To make a referral or further details of the IMCA service for Newcastle contact:
Terri Clibery
Skills for People
Key House
Tankerville Place
Jesmond
Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3AT
Tel: (0191) 281 7322
Fax: (0191) 212 0300
Speaking Up: Cambridge
Speaking Up provides advocacy services in a wide range of situations throughout the country. We enable people who experience learning difficulties, mental ill health or other disabilities to gain control of their lives and become involved in decisions which affect them. Our independent advocacy services are independent, confidential and non-judgemental, empowering both individuals in the community and large numbers of people held in secure settings.
In addition to our advocacy services, we run a number of projects such as Next Steps, the Service Users' Parliament and Young People Speaking Up which empower people to find their voice, shape their own lives and become active and valued citizens.
Speaking Up recently won the disability category at the 2006 Charity Awards.
Contact:
Speaking Up
1a Fortescue Road
Cambridge CB4 2JS
Telephone: 01223 566258
Fax: 01223 516638
University of Cambridge research project
The Learning Disability Research Group in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge has been commissioned by the Department of Health to review the pilot IMCA service
Our research activities include an audit of IMCA activity. Using an electronic database IMCA caseworkers and their managers will record information about the number and type of referrals they receive, the tasks and time taken to progress individual cases, and the outcome of individual cases.
We are also interested in the experiences of IMCA managers, IMCA caseworkers, decision-makers in health and social care services, and the vulnerable adults. We will therefore be conducting semi-structured interviews with representatives of each of these stakeholder groups.
Contact:
Dr Marcus Redley
Learning Disability Research Group
Department of Psychiatry
University of Cambridge
Douglas House
18b Trumpington Road
Cambridge CB2 2AH
telephone: +44 (0)1223 746123
fax: +44 (0)1223 746122
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