Volunteers working closely with Health Care Professionals

NRAS Volunteers have been working closely with Health Care Professionals in many ways, here are just some of the examples of how NRAS Volunteers have been of great support within their own hospital units:

• Motivated RA patients establishing and running their own RA patient groups

• Helping with newly diagnosed patients' education programmes - Often newly diagnosed patients can gain a great deal from meeting someone who has lived with RA for some time and whose disease is reasonably well controlled

• Training of new staff within the unit - Staff new to rheumatology have benefitted from hearing the patients perspective and Volunteers have enjoyed engaging with new nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, consultants etc. who in return have gained an insight into the everyday lives of their future patients

• Service redesign meetings - Having a strong patient voice involved in the decision making of any service redesign can have a great impact and patients are often able to voice concerns that health professionals find difficult to do due to professional restraints

• Ensuring that displays in waiting rooms etc are regularly stocked with informative booklets and information supplied by NRAS

• Participating in surveys or focus groups to assist in research or projects carried out by health professionals

If you would like to find out more about how NRAS Volunteers can support the work of your rheumatology department then just please email us or call Clare or Paul on 0845 458 3969