Surrey

Southern England > Surrey

In Surrey, POhWER provides a range of advocacy services. 

In Surrey, POhWER provides:

• Instructed Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
• Instructed Care Act Advocacy
• Instructed Non-Statutory Discretionary Advocacy for people living in Surrey with acute or long-term health conditions who will benefit from advocacy support to access NHS services. This includes general support to contact and liaise with NHS providers, liaison with mental health services and support around substance misuse programmes.

How do I get support from an advocate?

To make a referral to the advocacy services in Surrey, you can download the forms below.

If you are not sure whether you can get an advocate, or for more information, advice and support in your area, you can contact us on 0300 456 2370 or email [email protected] for queries, information and call back requests.

We also welcome calls via Relay UK (the national speech to text telephone relay service for people who are deaf, have hearing loss or speech impairment.) You can also contact us by Text: send the word ’pohwer’ with your name and number to 81025.

Easy Read forms:

• Advocacy Support Easy Read Referral Form - I would like support
• Monitoring Form in Easy Read - My details
• Easy Read Glossary - what some of the words in the forms above mean

Referral Forms:

• Instructed Non-Statutory Discretionary Advocacy referral form
• Instructed Non-Statutory Discretionary Advocacy Monitoring Form
• Instructed Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) referral form
• Instructed Care Act Advocacy referral form - Please note: Only professionals can refer people for Care Act Advocacy support - self-referrals cannot be accepted - If you want to access advocacy support for an assessment under the Care Act you must make the request through the person undertaking the assessment.

Please send referrals to [email protected] 

Other support services in Surrey:

• For any non-instructed IMHA or Care Act cases, or any IMCA referrals please contact Matrix who are the providers of these services for Surrey. Referrals can be made on their website or they can be contacted by telephone: 0300 199 0301 or by email: [email protected] or [email protected] 
  
  
• If you live in Surrey and are unhappy with the NHS treatment you have received, Surrey Independent Living Charity (SILC) can provide free, confidential and independent support to help you to make a complaint about an NHS service. This team is called the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy service and is provided in partnership with Healthwatch Surrey. SILC can be contacted by telephone: 01483 310 500, email: [email protected] or text message (SMS): 07704 265 377.
  
  
• For Children and Young People's Advocacy please contact Reconstruct who is the provider of this service for Surrey. They can be contacted by telephone: 0800 389 1571 or e-mail: [email protected] 
  
  
• To give feedback on health and social care services you have used or for information about health and social care you can contact Healthwatch Surrey. Healthwatch Surrey is an independent service listening to people’s experiences of health and social care to improve, shape and get the best from health and social care services. They provide independent feedback, reports and recommendations to service providers and decision makers to influence, inform and, if necessary, challenge decisions and plans both for existing and new services. They can be contacted by telephone: 0303 303 0023, email: [email protected] or text message (SMS): 07592 787533.
  
  

Local Resources

Download the Surrey Instructed IMHA leaflet (pdf)

Download the Surrey Instructed Care Act Advocacy leaflet (pdf)

Download the Surrey Instructed Non-Statutory Discretionary Advocacy leaflet (pdf)

Download the Surrey Instructed Non-Statutory Discretionary Advocacy leaflet in easy-read

Download the Surrey Instructed IMHA leaflet in easy-read

Download the Surrey Instructed Care Act leaflet in easy-read