Testimonials
What our clients are saying about us
"When we found ourselves in the position of needing to dispute the decision to withdraw the Continued Healthcare for my mother-in-law, we were recommended to contact Lyn at Health Advocacy by our solicitor.
Lyn supported us through the whole dispute and made the process simple and straightforward. When we began the dispute, we were still grieving for my mother-in-law, and without Lyn's kindness and support, we may have just given up on the case even though we knew we were in the right.
It was a long process but Lyn only contacted us when she needed more information, and we were confident things were getting resolved without too much legwork from us.
The case was found in our favour, and for this we are extremely grateful to Lyn.
I highly recommend leaving this kind of dispute to the professionals and I can't recommend Lyn enough to help you through this difficult and complicated process"
Mrs Hatfield
"The Health Advocacy team’s knowledge of the Continuing Healthcare Framework and its application is outstanding.
This proved vital in overturning a decision to remove my father’s CHC. Health Advocacy’s commitment to my father’s case means that he continues to be well cared for and happy in his own home. This would not have been so, if we had not engaged the services of Health Advocacy.
(N.B. Health Advocacy will be engaged for all future assessments to ensure my father continues to be treated fairly).”
Mrs P
"The advice given to me by Health Advocacy was very useful. It helped me better understand the assessment process for continuous health care. That included the key things assessors would be looking at and how they arrived at their decisions, the need for solid evidence to support any claim for continuous health care and how I should go about gathering the evidence. The rules round continuous health care are complex and hard to fathom so expert advice is crucial. I know feel much more confident about taking forward a request for more financial support for my mum’s care.”
Gerald Doyle - Private Client
"The advocate is very approachable and has helped the client to understand a difficult process at a very stressful time. I have also had feedback from clients to say that the advocate is very confident in what she does with a professional and compassionate manner.
The advocate has also provided training for the Solicitors for the Elderly, of which I am a member of. Her training was very clear concise and practical. Her ethos is to get the right answer for the situation at hand and not to give people false hopes but to empower them to understand where the patient is at and why.”
Jane Flaherty - Solicitor
"Firstly a huge and heartfelt thank you to Lyn Jones from Health Advocacy UK for all her help and support to get my Mother discharged home from hospital with a suitable care package provided by the local CCG. Lyn’s support followed 7 months of difficulties in trying to get my Mother home following a temporary placement in a Care Home. Lyn took over fully as my Mother’s advocate allowing me to return to the role as her Daughter. Her knowledge of the system and how things work meant that she had already spoken to all stakeholders prior to the Best Interest meeting and was fully informed with regards to details from all parties and available records in order to support my Mother’s wish to return home. Following the meeting Lyn liaised with the CCG on my behalf as to the finer details of the care plan and package to be implemented. Lyn has remained a constant source of support for the family both during the process and after, to which I am very grateful.”
Miss Shelley Fowler
“Lyn has provided me, on behalf of my mother who has Alzheimer’s and lives in a nursing home, with a thoroughly professional and compassionate service. Her continuing support has helped me deal with the complexities of NHS Continuing Healthcare and to better understand and influence the standard of care my mother receives.
Lyn is extremely knowledgeable and articulate and not afraid to challenge others’ opinions, in both correspondence and meetings, in order to ensure her client’s situation and care needs are properly understood, managed and accurately interpreted and recorded.
With Lyn’s support, I am now much more confident that I am doing all I can to ensure both my mother’s care home experience and her financial circumstances are the best they can be under difficult personal emotional circumstances. For this, I would like to offer my sincere thanks.
I would recommend Lyn and Health Advocacy to anyone who feels daunted by the care and care funding system and the impact it may have on their loved one’s and their own circumstances.“
Jayne Dixon
I appointed Lyn to provide advocacy services in respect of continuing by healthcare for Mum. We had a number of discussions prior to the DST/MDT meetings which were very helpful. I work in a tangentially related field and thought I was reasonably comfortable about the MDT process in itself, though unsure how it would play out. However I cannot overstate how impressed I was with Lyn's professional knowledge and approach within the meeting and in preparing the subsequent family statement, and relieved that I had engaged her support (in fact she effectively led the meeting). The depth of professional knowledge, both of relevant clinical factors and of the decision making process and legislation was eye opening and slightly humbling. A pleasure to watch someone who is clearly a master of their field in action.
The outcome was what we were hoping for. In short, highly knowledgeable and professional and a personal service. Strongly recommended.
The outcome was what we were hoping for. In short, highly knowledgeable and professional and a personal service. Strongly recommended.
Mr Thomas
“I have used Health Advocacy on several occasions. Their mental capacity assessments have been thorough, addressing the relevant issues in a way that shows time and thought had gone into their preparation and delivered to meet tight deadlines. Health Advocacy clearly have a good understanding of the needs and pressures on those they are working with and the health and social care systems we are working with.“
Wilkes Partnership - Solicitor
“Thanks to the help and advice of Lyn Jones of Health Advocacy UK , my mum is now safe in a nursing home with the added support of Continuing Health Care. It has been a huge relief to have Lyn’s advice and prompt responses in our times of stress.
Mum had been struggling for a few years with care at home, district nurses visiting three times a day, incontinence getting worse and mobility reduced to not being able to weight bear at all. Then mum refusing to get up and being abusive, sitting in her own excrement for days, diagnosis of vascular dementia, social service involvement and finally hospital.
I rang Lyn after watching her YouTube explanation of CHC (continuing health care) - she listened, advised and explained the process and said I could ring anytime. I rang other solicitors too, but Lyn stayed with me, without being pushy at all. I sensed her expertise and genuine wish to help people fight an unfair system.
My brother has worked for the NHS for over 30 years and I have been a senior teacher so we thought we could handle the DST meeting ourselves, after Lyn’s advice. I did a lot of research and we thought we were fully prepared.
Little did we know how much the system fights against those who have no representation. Despite our meticulous preparation for the DST meeting, all my mum’s needs were reduced by the complex care manager at the hospital and the nurse assessor from the CCG. We were told we would have to sell mum’s house to pay for her care in a nursing home and that mum could have FNC (funded nursing care) but not CHC.
Angry and stressed I rang Lyn and she gave me the BEST ADVICE ever. At the time I was fighting the idea that my mum would have to go into a care home (I had always thought I could look after her myself with help). My mum was struggling though and her physical and mental health were deteriorating. I was going to fight for CHC all the way because I was convinced that my mum had a primary care need. Many people thought we were wasting our time and energy.
Lyn saw this and suggested a way forward. She advised that fighting the hospital decision was not a good idea. She told me to get my mum in a nursing home and start again with a new checklist etc. Her calm advice was what I needed to stay strong and fight. I signed Lyn’s contract, (very straightforward and reasonable compared to other solicitors/health advocates) and have never looked back.
We found my mum a nursing home and a new checklist was sorted with the social worker . Then within 3 months the DST meeting took place. Lyn answered all my questions during the preparation, however minor, very promptly. My mum is in West Yorkshire and Lyn is in Wales - but the miles were no barrier at all. Lyn was always there at the end of the telephone line and she travelled twice to attend meetings.
Our second DST was a different story with Lyn at our side. It was tough and slow but Lyn’s calm and quietly forceful no nonsense approach, as well as her ability to command respect, got us through and my mum was awarded CHC.
I expect people going through this process will understand what a huge relief this has been to my mum and my family. I cannot recommend Lyn Jones at Health Advocacy UK highly enough.“
Mum had been struggling for a few years with care at home, district nurses visiting three times a day, incontinence getting worse and mobility reduced to not being able to weight bear at all. Then mum refusing to get up and being abusive, sitting in her own excrement for days, diagnosis of vascular dementia, social service involvement and finally hospital.
I rang Lyn after watching her YouTube explanation of CHC (continuing health care) - she listened, advised and explained the process and said I could ring anytime. I rang other solicitors too, but Lyn stayed with me, without being pushy at all. I sensed her expertise and genuine wish to help people fight an unfair system.
My brother has worked for the NHS for over 30 years and I have been a senior teacher so we thought we could handle the DST meeting ourselves, after Lyn’s advice. I did a lot of research and we thought we were fully prepared.
Little did we know how much the system fights against those who have no representation. Despite our meticulous preparation for the DST meeting, all my mum’s needs were reduced by the complex care manager at the hospital and the nurse assessor from the CCG. We were told we would have to sell mum’s house to pay for her care in a nursing home and that mum could have FNC (funded nursing care) but not CHC.
Angry and stressed I rang Lyn and she gave me the BEST ADVICE ever. At the time I was fighting the idea that my mum would have to go into a care home (I had always thought I could look after her myself with help). My mum was struggling though and her physical and mental health were deteriorating. I was going to fight for CHC all the way because I was convinced that my mum had a primary care need. Many people thought we were wasting our time and energy.
Lyn saw this and suggested a way forward. She advised that fighting the hospital decision was not a good idea. She told me to get my mum in a nursing home and start again with a new checklist etc. Her calm advice was what I needed to stay strong and fight. I signed Lyn’s contract, (very straightforward and reasonable compared to other solicitors/health advocates) and have never looked back.
We found my mum a nursing home and a new checklist was sorted with the social worker . Then within 3 months the DST meeting took place. Lyn answered all my questions during the preparation, however minor, very promptly. My mum is in West Yorkshire and Lyn is in Wales - but the miles were no barrier at all. Lyn was always there at the end of the telephone line and she travelled twice to attend meetings.
Our second DST was a different story with Lyn at our side. It was tough and slow but Lyn’s calm and quietly forceful no nonsense approach, as well as her ability to command respect, got us through and my mum was awarded CHC.
I expect people going through this process will understand what a huge relief this has been to my mum and my family. I cannot recommend Lyn Jones at Health Advocacy UK highly enough.“
Judith Hargreaves
