Volunteers gain national recognition

Paula Vickers, Sabira Siddique, John Reed, Sophia Orson, Zahida Iqbal and Julie Dawson

Expert Patient Programme (EPP) volunteers at NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale (HMR) have received national accreditation and recognition for their outstanding contribution in supporting patients to manage their long term conditions.

After an intensive training and assessment process, the volunteers have successfully joined the National Register of Self-Management, a new register set up to ensure patients are only offered courses run by appropriately trained and accredited tutors.

Julie Dawson, EPP Manager at NHS HMR, said: “This is excellent news for the team. The tutors are a growing community of volunteers and professionals committed to providing high quality self-management courses to people living with long term health conditions.
“To be awarded learning credits equivalent to Level 3 NVQ or A level standard is not only a real achievement but recognises the work they do and, for some, will enhance their CVs and develop their chances towards further education and in applying for jobs.”

Local volunteer, John Reed took the EPP course eight years ago to help improve his own quality of life and help him deal with the daily symptoms of his long term medical condition. He found the course helpful and interesting, so much so that he trained as a tutor six years ago.

“The course is completely free and the tools and skills that you learn help greatly to manage your own symptoms which often cause pain, anger and frustration,” said John.
“The course teaches you how to break the vicious cycle of symptoms which worked for me and have improved my life. I would thoroughly recommend other suffers with long term medical conditions, of all ages, to give it a go. Unlike medication it does not have any side effects.”