Patient Self-Advocacy: Be Empowered, Ask Questions, Get Better Care

What Is Self-Advocacy?

Self-advocacy is defined as the act of representing yourself; in other words, speaking up for yourself and your interests to ensure your needs are met. Being able to speak up and push back is particularly important when receiving medical care: doctors, nurses and other staff are over-stretched, resources and support are scarce and patients may receive sub-par care under these circumstances. Patients must know what they need and how to get what they need in a way that is non-confrontational but conducive to a good ongoing relationship with care providers.

The history of self-advocacy is linked to civil rights movements and the assistance of disabled people.

Health Is Political

Underfunding of public health services is a political issue and patients (who are taxpayers and get to decide who gets elected) shouldn’t have to suffer because their governments have cut spending. I am not the only one who thinks this: see, for example, this article from Think Global Health entitled ‘Public Health Is Always Political’, this article from the British Medical Association quoting a £850m funding cut in public health medicine between 2015/16 and 2019/20 in the UK, and this 2014 World Health Organization report on Ireland’s health…