Bill’s wife Irma had lived in an aged care home for a number of years. He visited her every day and had noticed that she had been losing weight recently. Whilst visiting the home Bill noticed that staff would often only feed Irma half her meal and then rush off to attend to other residents. Bill would then feed his wife the remainder of her meal which took quite a while. Bill was concerned as he had a hospital stay coming up that his wife would not be fed adequately when he was unable to visit. Bill did not feel confident speaking to the staff as he was worried they may neglect his wife if he upset them.

Bill contacted the Older Persons Advocacy Network and an advocate met with Bill and spoke to him about some tips for undertaking self-advocacy for this matter. Bill then arranged a meeting with the service provider, where the advocate attended to support him. The service provider listened to Bill’s concerns and arranged a dietician assessment for Irma which resulted in extra nutritional supplements being added to her diet, and extra staff time to accommodate her slow eating. After such a positive experience, Bill felt more confident in raising other care concerns with the provider on an ongoing basis.