Lisa Shendge, patient voice partner Patient involvement strengthens all of us 3 A former occupational therapist who describes herself as an ‘extremely experienced patient’ is part of a team helping the RFL gain invaluable insight. Lisa Shendge, 83, from Hampstead Garden Suburb, signed up at a community event to become a patient voice partner via the RFL involvement register. Any interested patient or carer can sign up to this register via the trust’s website. Patient voice partners are regularly sent activities that they can choose to get involved with – all aimed at helping us to deliver the best experience for people accessing our services. Lisa said: “I’ve had all sorts of medical problems in my life and probably one of the reasons I became an occupational therapist is as a child I thought the staff were magical people who never got ill!” In later years, Lisa ended up going into judicial work, including sitting on various panels and tribunals and on disciplinary panels at the General Medical Council. She also became a magistrate. More recently Lisa cared for her husband, to whom she was married for 53 years, but since he passed away two years ago, she is determined to, in her words, still be ‘useful’. She said: “Being a patient voice partner is like treatment for me. For example, if I can give a patient perspective on an information leaflet it gives me huge satisfaction.” Lisa recently sat on a staff job interview panel. She said: “I was a proper member of the interview team. It was a lot of work, including the shortlisting process, but it was wonderful and I felt very confident that we chose the right person.” Penny Salih, a senior improvement advisor who was also on the panel, said: “Lisa brought a unique and important perspective that helped our decisionmaking. She positively influenced the discussions and reminded us, and the candidates, about the Being a patient voice partner is like treatment for me “ “ importance of putting our patients’ needs at the forefront of our work.” Lisa has also been involved in staff training and shares her experience. She said: “In day-to-day life I’m a really confident person but put me in a hospital setting and I lose my nerve. I wanted staff to realise how important a smile or a kind word is – treat me like a real person and please take the time to help people who look lost or have a question. At some point you will become the patient and feel exactly the same.” Another job that gave Lisa huge satisfaction was providing feedback when the trust’s new website was being created. Lisa said: “I was given various tasks to complete and one of the key things for me was I thought it was really important that there is a clear indication of how you get onto the patient portal. When I saw the final version I was really chuffed that it is front and centre on the home page.” Lisa added: “Over the years I’ve benefitted from the volunteers who tell you where to go for your appointment, or make you a cup of tea on the ward or provide you with a massage and it’s lovely that I can also use my different skills to help others.”
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