VoiceAbility Reviews 31

I was led to believe that my advocate was supporting me in my dealings with Hampshire County Council. After major cancer surgery I’m not supposed to be caring for anyone ever again, I’m trying to ensure my son has the care he needs without my involvement. There was no progress, then he said he was leaving, so I made a Subject Access Request to view his notes etc. after hours of discussion there was virtually NOTHING! Me son had a Voiceability advocate too. He has been involved with an unusual hobby since he was 6 weeks old, he’s now 46. Rather than ensure he has proper support, the advocate and care manager met him and later I was told he wasn’t interested any more. Utter rubbish. They knew nothing about this hobby, have never been to my house to find out for themselves, never given my son any opportunity to tell them what he has done, no risk assessment, nothing. Call this advocacy?? Then Voiceability demolished one of the best schemes ever, replaced by something that is absolutely useless.

My experience with Vocieability was completely inconsistent to what you would expect from an Advocacy organisation. The management appear to be more focused on hitting targets, financially and contractually rather than providing the correct care for their Advocacy Partners. It was made perfectly clear from the beginning that their focus was quickly moving through service users and closing cases. The staff morale was low and there was a noticeable theme of bullying present. The role I accepted was completely different to what I was faced with during my induction and the pay was substantially less than advertised- nothing was explained accurately. Overpromised and underdelivered was a common theme observed in the first week. Chat amongst existing colleagues reflected an overwhelming workload and severe micromanagement from the senior leaders, whom appeared not to be interested in their staffs wellbeing. Coming from a different age group to the other new starts, I was made to feel inapt for my role due to my age; which was completely inaccurate as I hold multiple relevant qualifications to this role. Steer clear from Voiceability if you want to work for an organisation that upholds the morals they portray. Be wary of what you are promised during their onboarding process.

Appalling service in Manchester. Waiting months and months for help. Often told they are too busy to deal with you,often don't know the facts of case or willing to go through it with you. Been waiting 12 months in total for help in an very urgent serious situation. Often gaslighting/patient blaming as well as blaming other people for their own poor service and bad communication with clients and lack of progressing your case. Often do nothing on your case for months, blaming others and making exuses. Often make you feel like a burden, frequently fobbing off with poor understanding of disabilities and MH too. Very easy to fob off/blame ill, sick and vulnerable people isn't it!

P. S I have tried to raise concerns but left in limbo, not listened to or heard, fobbed off, and left in a very bad state and situation, badly let down dosent cover it. I have lost all confidence in your service which I trusted and as a result it has left me in an even worse situation. All attempts to request a resolution have been ignored. I have requested reasonable adjustments but they ignored too. This is distressing to have to deal with added stress ontop of my very serious situation. As a result my case has been messed up and serious consequences have arisen. I put my trust in you but you made my case even worse. I m too ill to deal with it now which could have been avoided!

I waited 10 months to be allocated an advocate and despite saying I could barely walk she still insisted I meet her outside. Then she didn't turn up. She forgot. Now I'm sobbing in agony and Voiceability say they have no timeframe to allocate another advocate. My doctor says he's too busy to investigate why I'm getting so sick because he has 'children to look after' and the advocate makes me wait half an hour in the cold and the next days texts 'oops'.

Needed Help making a complaint regarding a lack of support around a neurological developmental disorder from the NHS.

Contacted VoiceAbility hoping for some advice and support. As I am struggling atm.

What a bloody nightmare....

I'm finding it stressful enough having to deal with the complaints process. And instead of the support.., I'm having to dumb things down for the "advocate".

They do not listen what I say and neither do they read what I send them. I'm repeatedly having to correct the advocate who is clearly not reading my messages. Despite wanting regular updates. And I am having to explain everything as though I'm talking to a child.

They're making the whole process harder than it already is. I'm sorry I ever contacted them. How they have been able to take over advocacy in my area I have no Idea.

Very very bad experience . I'm an independent disability advocate and this organisation forced themselves into a meeting the lady I was supporting attended at Addenbrookes Neurology. They actually asked me ( her own appointed advocate to leave )
It was actually barbaric and I have witnesses prepared to voice their concerns .
My lady had never met the advocate who was there and we did not ask or want this advocate who clearly represented the hospital and the council clearly not my lady.
If she had have met my lady she would have heard the struggles this lady had with letting new people in her home and not advocated for 3 different carers a week spending up to half an hour ( which would certainly not have met the needs.
As my lady had never met this advocate before or even heard of their service how could she have been there to get my lady's voice heard.. certainly in our case it was nothing at all that resembled advocacy and I was furious about the enforced place this lady had at what should have been a very confidential meeting.
I'm not sure what happened to us but
this was a forced experienced and one that caused much distress , my lady actually believed she would be kidnapped and will leave no trust in this service whatsoever which is such a shame.
We are awaiting to have our complaints heard with explanations to see how far we take this but will ensure this follows the complete complaints process and may even result in legal proceedings if still unhappy.
Seriously please everyone read these reviews , we can't all be wrong. I also ask why when the reviews are 100% bad can you have a dating of 2.6 %?
This is why independent advocates like me are needed.. The service we had was a complete sham , patronising . Confidence reducing and not only unecessary but breached all confidentiality by being there uninvited without any understanding of how they use the Infornation gained.

Absolutely shocking service my son has now been again left for months with no advocate. Decisions have been made without him being supported. Disagreement resolution no advocate and hes unable to attend himself because of his disabilities. Formal complaint not even acknowledged. Call them and all they can do is send an email to team leader which they have been doing for 2 months now with no answer.

Totally agree with other review why can’t we go back to power - much better ?

I couldn’t even get an advocate despite using 5his service before and nothing in my circumstances has changed . As the Americans would say go figure !!