POhWER is meant to be an NHS Complaints Advocacy, that is completely independent of the NHS, and is governed by a board of trustees and users of the NHS and other public services. They say that all of their advocates have the National Advocacy Qualification, and that POhWER also holds the Quality Performance Mark which means that they meet high standards of Advocacy. However, after my dealings with POhWER, I have been left with the very strong impression that POhWER exists as an organisation to fool people into believing that we live in a fair and just society, where we really can be represented and do something about their cause for complaint. I do think, however, that I was some kind of special case, where I was to be messed around right from the start, and I may go into detail exactly why on another post. I now, no longer think that POhWER is independent to the NHS and that they both belong to the same organisation.
I first contacted POhWER a week ago. Over a period of a week, I have come to realize that POhWER is not a proper organization, and that the Advocate, calling herself, Sarah Smith, that I was contacted by had the lowest standards of Advocacy possible. I have to say that the way that Sarah Smith dealt with my complaint against the NHS was most peculiar. I really feel that Sarah Smith just took the piss and blatantly misrepresented the information that I gave her and actually made things up, when drafting the complaint letter for the NHS that she sent me. I had spent at least half an hour carefully conveying my complaint to Sarah Smith, where I believe I was very clear about my issues regarding Dr. Elanjithara and my treatment at the Caludon Centre. There is no way that she could have misunderstood me. The handbook for POhWER shows a picture of an advocate sitting down with a member of the public going over her case (or something similar). This did not happen with me. The subject of Sarah Smith's emails to me was RESTRICTED NHS Complaint. Why was my complaint restricted? I sent Sarah Smith several emails voicing my concerns about her drafted letter for my complaint against the NHS. However, she did not address my issues, but just said thank you for my emails and asked me to make my ammendments so that she could continue to support me. By this stage I had lost all trust in Sarah Smith and the Advocacy that she represented. I felt that if she could have so blatantly mistreated me, that she must have had instructions to do so, and that there was no point in even making a complaint about her. I told her that I did not want to continue with my complaint and gave her the reasons why. She just thanked me for my email and told me that she was closing my case. Would a professional advocate really behave in such a way? Surely a proper advocate would wish to make sure that I was actually able to trust her and make every effort to alleviate any misunderstanding. I have now decided that it is a waste of time trying to complain to the NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust as they are also not a proper organisation; all I will get is lies and nonsense. as my father has already encountered with the Trust.
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