Prevention of abuse and neglect

There are many laws in place to protect us: the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act, the Mental Health Act, the NHS and Community Care Act, the Care Act 2014 and many more in relation to criminal activity. However, there are basic rights that exist in our everyday dealings with other people.

Did you know you have the right to:

• State your own needs and set your own priorities as a person, regardless of your circumstances
• To be treated with respect as an intelligent, capable and equal human being
• To express your feelings, opinions and values
• To say 'no' or 'yes' for yourself
• To ask for what you want
• To make mistakes
• To change your mind
• To say you 'don't understand' and ask for more information
• To decline responsibility for other people's problems
• To deal with others without being dependent on them for approval

Your personal space

You can decide who you spend time with, if you are unsure of people who come into your home to provide care or other services, you can ask the organisation to stop them coming, if that fails, you can stop them with support from others.

Buying the services of a tradesperson

Beware bogus traders, who call at your door uninvited and advise you of work that needs doing or services you need. Buying in this way is very risky; you could pay a high price in terms of cost and standard of goods or work.

You can safely obtain contact details for tradespeople from Age UK Coventry. Trusted Traders offers you an easy, safe and reliable way to avoid rogue traders. In just one phone call you can find traders for all the maintenance and repair jobs in your home and garden.

Healthcare

The NHS provides emergency, urgent and routine hospital care as well as primary care through GPs, dentists, district nursing and other community services. However, there are many steps individuals can take to avoid ill health and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

If you are concerned about the standard of healthcare or clinical practice you can raise these by following the advice on the NHS England website or find out where to make a direct complaint on the Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group website.

Local Authorities

Local Authorities have a duty to provide many services including Care and Support and Community Safety. If you have concerns about care standards, policing or community safety, you can report it. If you don't get the response you expect you can make a complaint.