Bristol Community Health, North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust jointly invested in a patient and community leadership

programme in 2016.

The intended outcome of the programme is to create a new collaborative relationship between the healthcare ‘system’ and the communities in which it operates in line with the NHS Five Year Forward View.

The patient leadership training that took place between October 2016 and February 2017 intended to equip members of the public with the knowledge, confidence and skills to build relationships with and influence health care decision makers, senior managers and clinicians to support integration and new ways of working.

Following the patient and community leadership training programme, the public participants, hereby referred to as ‘Healthcare Change Makers’ came together with the Patient and Public Involvement Leads to create the Healthcare Change Maker forum.

The role of Healthcare Change Makers is to bring an influential patient voice into the shaping of Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Health & Social care and wellbeing services.

Through the understanding and experiences of Healthcare Change Makers, they have the ability to scrutinize, discuss and influence change to improve the healthcare journey for patients and families.

The forum provides a space for the coming together of the Healthcare Change Makers as a real-life resource for shaping the future of health and wellbeing in our communities.

Local healthcare organisations have a variety of existing ways and structures to engage with patients and the public in shaping and developing existing and planned services and it is therefore important to note that the remit of the Healthcare Change Makers is not to duplicate these mechanisms. Instead, the focus of HCMs is to influence strategic decision making across the local healthcare system.

The Healthcare ChangeMaker Forum consists of the following Healthcare ChangeMakers and Healthcare Professionals:

Jennifer Ackerman 

Karen Apperley 

Kathy Baxter 

Geoffrey Clarke 

David Crofton 

Michael Deane 

Veronika Dvorackova 

Don Jones 

Nicola Morris 

Shiv Sama
Barbara Sherriff 

Lucy Skinner 

Claire Valsler

Trish Vallance 

Jacqueline Welbourne 

Laura Welti

Martin Wilkes 

Matthew Areskog, Patient and Public Empowerment Lead, Bristol Community Health

Gill Brook, Head of Patient Experience, North Bristol NHS Trust

Louise Fowler, Patient and Public Involvement Programme Manager, Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group