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Resources on The Fundamentals of Advocacy in health and social care

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Advocacy is a key part of the role of all health and social care staff in Ireland. Advocacy is about supporting and empowering people to communicate their will and preference, securing their human rights, or representing their interests. Advocacy is about ensuring person-centred care by placing the person at the centre of any decision-making about their lives and their care. There are times when it is necessary to involve an independent advocate to support a person, staff should support people to access these services when required.

We have developed an online learning course, booklet and educational video on The Fundamentals of Advocacy in health and social care. Advocacy is a key element in all national standards published by HIQA.

We have developed a poster that can be printed and displayed in your workplace to promote the online learning course on The Fundamentals of Advocacy in health and social care.

The online course, booklet, video and poster aim to enhance understanding of advocacy and to enable staff to better support people using services to advocate for themselves and to access advocacy services. The resources describe the role of health and social care staff in relation to advocacy and how they can support person-centred care within their service.

We have developed an online learning course to support staff working in health and social care to improve their knowledge and understanding of advocacy.

The course aims to enhance understanding of advocacy and to enable staff to better support people using services to advocate for themselves and to access advocacy services. The online learning course is hosted on HSELanD in the course catalogue ‘Health & Social Care Professionals’.

If you require a certificate of completion you will need to log in to HSELanD to complete the course. This is available to all those working in the health and social care sector, and to students in Irish universities or colleges, and there is no charge to set up an account. For further information, please visit the HSeLanD help page.

If you have any technical difficulties, please contact HSELanD technical support. If you have any difficulties in locating the course or any content queries, please contact the Standards Team at standards@hiqa.ie

Alternatively, you can complete the course on our website here under the tab 'Online Learning Courses', but it will not be possible to receive a certificate of completion.

We have developed an educational video on advocacy to support those working in health and social care services.

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We engaged with learners who had completed the course, and other key stakeholders, who told us that the online learning course has been effective in improving knowledge and awareness of advocacy among those who completed the course.

To provide an understanding of the effectiveness of the course, HIQA engaged with learners who had completed the course, and those with oversight of health and social care services, through a survey and group interviews. These engagements were carried out six months and one year following the launch of the course. 
For more information please see The Fundamentals of Advocacy in health and social care: Exploring the effectiveness of the online learning course. This report describes the effectiveness of the online learning course as outlined by those who completed the course and other key stakeholders. 

Key findings are that that since completing the advocacy course, respondents reported: 

  • that they had a better understanding of advocacy and felt more confident in using their skills to support the people who use their service
  • that they had made changes to the way they work including: supporting people to express their will and preference; better communication with people who use services; and focusing more on people’s needs
  • that online learning courses were effective in helping them to improve their work.
Read the press release here