Information, Advice and Advocacy for Older People : Defining and Developing Services

A review of information, advice and advocacy services for older people.

Services providing information, advice and advocacy are crucially important in promoting older people's independence.

The current context of government initiatives such as Link Age and the growing grassroots advocacy movement of older people make this report both timely and significant.

The report looks at information, advice, and advocacy and the ways in which they may overlap in practice, as well as the differences between them.

It explores definitions, core principles, forms, roles and relationships.

Information, advice and advocacy are also discussed in terms of skills, services and processes of empowerment.

The report focuses on five key themes - accessibility, independence, involvement, strategy and standards.

It highlights good practice, and critically examines different ways of thinking about the development of information, advice and advocacy for older people.

The report concludes with suggestions for further work in research, policy and practice.

It will be of particular interest to researchers, policy makers, commissioners, and providers of services in all sectors and older people's groups. It will appeal to: older people's groups/forums at local level; local government and local health services; organisations with an interest in information, advice and advocacy (e.g.

Care Direct, possibly NHS Direct, Patients Advice Liaison Services - PALS) and national planners for older people's services.