My name is Katie, co-researcher working with Stockport NHS Foundation Trust for the 2023/4 Lab. I contributed to several previous Lab projects and offer a broad perspective as a Q member with lived experience in health care and an expert in coproduction. Professionally, I have a research background with a PhD in Health Psychology. My understanding of health and social care pathways as both a professional and a patient will add value to the Stockport team’s work addressing wait list times in elective care.
As a person managing a long-term pain condition, I understand the patient experience of waiting for clinical intervention. I also supported a family member through an addiction to opiates initially prescribed by a doctor, and I have seen the cataclysmic impact that this had. Therefore, I am keen to see how clinics like Stockport work, their efficacy and how our findings could be used in other pain management settings.
Introducing Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
I’m working with Tom Walton, Hannah Fenton and Harriet Forbes from Stockport NHS Trust. They are a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in anaesthesiology, pharmacy and nursing, working together to address the waiting times of patients living in pain who rely on high doses of opiates. They hope a new clinic will offer these patients a range of support to reduce their opiate amounts as this is good for wellbeing and reduces the risk of poor surgical outcomes.
The team is working through the practical challenges of setting up a clinic, including a referral pathway, clinic dates, times, and space.
They are identifying key considerations as part of this initial planning phase. This includes the methodology and the role of patient feedback, which I seek to assist with. The team hopes to expand on the type of support provided in this pathway by the end of the nine months. I hope to see patient feedback inform those choices alongside clinical, logistical and financial factors.
The Stockport team is keen to see what they can learn from other test sites when they seem so different on paper, as well as what others can learn from Stockport’s experience.
The methodologies adopted by the lab team will create an environment where we will explore this area in depth.
I am keen to see how the learning from this test site can be shared throughout the first nine months of the lab process and beyond. Success in one pocket of the NHS is a big win, but if it can be scaled up to reach others, then the value of the work increases.
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