David Gilbert on being a Patient Leader embedded in the healthcare system

[Carolyn Canfield]

Dear friends,

I've known UK mental health client veteran, David Gilbert since 2011 when the BC Patient Voices Network brought him to BC. He has just published a wonderful article about his most recent accomplishments in the Health Service Journal. Read the article, HERE. "Patient leadership for real - The Sussex model for patient partnership".

The HSJ is the UK's most responsive online news for "health leaders", ie paid professionals. In this article David tells that audience how he has pioneered the role of a paid but independently-minded patient leader to head up patient engagement with real impact. I find it inspiring that his experience as a mental health service user informs him about how to go about engaging in musculoskeletal patient services.

David has decades of experience in what the NHS calls PPI, patient and public involvement. He was invited as a keynote speaker to a short-lived annual conference for all our provincial patient volunteers. His address inspired me in a way no one else has.

David gave me many insights, not least that I don't have to know everything as a patient partner. I only need to be confident enough to ask questions from a patient perspective. David and I have corresponded every since and even met up a few times. He would love to return to Canada if you have influence in any speaking dates.

You can find much more from David on his blog https://futurepatientblog.com His twitter feed as a poet is @DGPoet and as a patient leader @DavidGilbert43

So here is my question for you: do you thing that Canada is ready for staffing patients in jobs to organize patent partnerships within a healthcare provider organization?

As you read his article, what comes to mind? Could you do that job, or even want to? Would you want a person primarily qualified by lived experience to do that job? What would you need for support or training? As a patient volunteer, how would you see a patient staff member? How do you think the admin and professional staff would view a patient staff member?

I know a few patients who are paid for doing work not so very different from David's. But what do you think? What issues come to mind as a problem? Should we even be thinking this way for the future?

Best regards,
Carolyn

[Annette McKinnon]

Health as a job would be really fulfilling for some of us.

For me being involved in health care now in a wide variety of ways, is like the job I wish I had in the past. But without that past I would not be as effective now.

It's a hard choice - to settle in to a position in health care where you can make a real difference and demonstrate the value of patient contributions, or to work like the ant as part of the larger team that ensures survival of the group.

A very fanciful thought and there's room for both types, plus there are so many more people who want to get involved in improving this huge area that affects us all