Sanofi Train the Trainer Programme

Course objectives Understand what advocacy is Understand the roles of decision makers and how to influence them Understand the issues affecting older people affected by cancer Be able to talk to decision makers about advocacy, issues affect older people affected by cancer, explain about circumstances which a referral to advocacy might be useful, how to refer, explore barriers together with decision makers Know what materials are available to support you Feel confident about delivering training sessions alongside OPAAL

What is advocacy? Advocacy is all about listening to a person and then supporting them to take control and have their voice heard. In doing so, people can : express choice develop the confidence to express dissatisfaction receive & understand information avoid exclusion regain/ take back power

Role of the independent advocate Representing individuals who may find it difficult to speak up for themselves Accessing information which an individual can use and understand Exploring choices and potential consequences Helping individuals to be included in decisions that affect them Challenging decisions

Advocacy principles These can be summarised into 4 key principles which underpin the work of advocacy services: Independence Being Client led Confidentiality Empowerment

Who are ‘decision makers?’ People who make referrals: GPs Consultants/doctors in hospital Nursing staff, cancer specialist nurses Cancer information centres Other NHS staff Social workers Social care assessment teams Other social care staff Hospice staff Community based services i.e. local Age UK, carers associations

Who are ‘decision makers?’ slide 2 People who fund services or have a role in funding services Commissioners (Local community involvement teams) Commissioning is the planning and purchasing of services to meet the health and social care needs of a local population. When training with these professionals we want them to see the value of advocacy for older people affected by cancer and we want them to start thinking about funding independent advocacy provision Commission to ensure services work in ways that enable people to find and tap into the support they want

How can we influence? Local participation events (usually themed around a health or social care concern, or a local consultation) Responding to local consultations Joining local clinical commissioning group patient/practice groups Speaking to decision makers via local health and wellbeing boards Join your local healthwatch, or join a healthwatch interest group

Barriers to influencing Structural barriers – formal meetings Too busy Not enough money in the system See the benefit but do not make referrals Services not open to change, or to making improvements to services Views are sought but engagement is tokenistic, done to ‘tick a box’

Overcoming barriers to influencing Education and training. Training and education (particularly if led be patients) for service users and providers were seen as ways of challenging the barriers Commitment to change and commitment to listen were seen as essential for challenging barriers Ensuring diversity. The diversity of service users needed to be recognised if the full range of service user knowledge was to be engaged Networking. Most patients thought that networking was a key route to strengthening service user/patient knowledge and increasing its credibility and visibility

Structure for training sessions Probably 20 to 30 minutes Introduction to train the trainer project Issues important to older people affected by cancer Your stories and/or filmed stories How to refer – any questions? Anything that might stop them referring? Or for commissioners – any questions? Is this a service you would fund? Next steps