MSN Neurosurgery :: Neurological Voices – helping you have your say on your local health services

Neurological Voices – helping you have your say on your local health services

‘Neurological Voices’ is a Scottish Government funded project currently underway at the Neurological Alliance of Scotland. The Neurological Voices training programme will prepare people with different neurological conditions and carers to get involved in planning and improving their local health services. It’s a chance to give something back and make a positive difference for the future, whether you have been satisfied or have had problems with your own care. It will also be an enjoyable opportunity to share experiences, express your opinions and develop your communication skills so you can make a case that health professionals will hear, loud and clear.

Upcoming taster sessions, lasting around two hours, will allow you to find out whether the programme is for you. The full course, lasting three mornings and held over two weeks, will be offered to mixed groups that may include people with, eg, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, MS, ataxia and dystonia. Sessions will be lively but paced and structured to take individual support needs into account.

Jan Anderson, who will be running the courses, is a speech and language therapist who has lots of experience of helping people develop confidence and communication skills. She believes we find our authentic ‘Voice’ and passion for speaking up when we feel heard and supported amongst peers. She is excited about working with mixed groups as this will help people move beyond their personal experience to speak up about wider priorities.

The project is based on successful courses that Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) have been running for patients affected by heart and respiratory conditions and stroke. CHSS’ ‘Voices Scotland’ programme has equipped patients and carers to become effective patient representatives who, for example, take part in Managed Clinical Networks relating to their condition and participate in health service consultations.
All ‘Voices’ initiatives have developed out of a growing understanding, over the past 10 years, that the NHS needs to listen to patients to achieve best results. We hear a lot nowadays about ‘putting patients at the centre’ and patients becoming ‘partners in care’. NHS Scotland has made real efforts to find out about patients’ experience and this work is termed ‘Patient Focus Public Involvement’ or ‘PFPI’. The ethos is neatly summarised: ‘It is no longer good enough to simply do things to people; a modern healthcare service must do things with the people it serves.’ (‘Patient Focus and Public Involvement’, 2000).
In addition, as you may know, ‘Clinical Standards for Neurological Health Services’ were launched by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland in 2010. The Standards shine a spotlight on neurological services and emphasise the quality of care that all patients should receive on their way into services, during investigations and throughout treatment. They highlight that services should be safe, effective, timely, delivered in the right place and equal across Scotland. The Standards offer a special opportunity for anyone with a neurological condition to get involved.

Jan has been meeting NHS staff who are dedicated to delivering on the Standards and improving neurological services. Each local NHS Board is developing its own plan for improving services and everywhere, patients and carers will be involved in this process. Jan will be offering Neurological Voices training in partnership with the NHS in selected areas initially, including Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway, Forth Valley, Grampian and Tayside. It is expected the programme will roll out across all of Scotland in due course.

If you would like to be informed of dates for Neurological Voices tasters in your area, please contact Jan:
Email: Jan.anderson@scottishneurological.org.uk
Mobile: 07703185856
Post:
The Neurological Alliance of Scotland
Mansfield Traquair Centre
15 Mansfield Place
Edinburgh
EH3 6BB