Due to reduced long-term capacity to deliver the Expert Patient Programme Team we are currently unable to offer courses. People who are interested and suitable to attend a course can instead be referred to Cornwall Volunteers' HOPE programme.
Email the Home Team with your referral.
A free programme which aims to:
The programme is being run for anyone in Cornwall living with a long-term health condition. The course is delivered over 6 weeks for no more than 2.5 hours, led by trained volunteer tutors with lived experience.
Course sessions will cover:
I feel in a much better place, my depression has lowered and I'm more communicative now. I'm more proactive, my outlook and emotions have improved. I feel more confident, more assertive, better equipped, and wiser. I have more self-awareness and a greater friendship circle. Life changing. In just 2 words: thank you.
The course has made a massive difference to me. I feel less isolated and have learned a huge number of skills to manage my condition. It also really helped with accepting the changes in my life, which has given me the energy to look ahead with optimism. I feel more hopeful and enabled. I literally knew nothing about my long-term health condition and now I know a lot more and, more importantly, I know where to find out whatever I need to know and learn how to be my own expert. And I have joined a WhatsApp group with the other participants from my course group, which is profoundly uplifting.
I've really appreciated meeting others who have the same symptoms as me, such as fatigue and brain fog. It's the first time that I have been with people who truly understand. This alone has had a tremendous impact.
In this live Teams video, the team discuss the course content and the benefits of managing your own health with some useful tools from our course.
Resources for the Expert Patient Programme on health conditions, caring, diet, exercise and self-help guidance.
The Health Works for Cornwall Programme supports residents of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly whose health and wellbeing is affecting their ability to find and sustain suitable employment.
Email Health Works for Cornwall or call the People Hub on 0333 015 0699, who can offer free and impartial advice on all the employability support available in Cornwall.
You can also follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The Susie Project works with survivors of domestic violence and abuse who no longer live with their abuser. Email the Susie Project or call 01209 202 695 for more information.
In this section, you can find out more about volunteer roles for the programme.
To deliver self-management training courses from the Stanford University Expert Patient Programme Manual, in accordance with organisational quality standards.
Following appropriate selection and training, there will be an opportunity to deliver other identified training programmes for the Trust.
We have new courses available on:
The training for our courses are currently being delivered online via Teams. You have to attend all sessions which is twice a week for 2.5 hours per session over a 7-week period.
Once training has completed you will deliver your first 2 courses online with an accredited volunteer trainer and have the support of a coordinator throughout your delivery.
You will be assessed on both your first 2 courses and then to maintain accreditation we assess all our team once every year. We maintain high quality assurance standards through our stepping stones guidelines.
We hope that, following initial training and accreditation, you will continue to volunteer with the Trust for at least 2 years.
We envisage that each training volunteer will deliver a minimum of 2 self management programmes per annum in order to maintain ongoing accreditation and competence.
The programme is delivered in a variety of formats, some of which may include evenings and/or weekends.
Case studies from some of the volunteers that deliver the expert patient programme.
In 2015, we were nominated for the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Compassionate Patient Care award for our work within Cornwall. Our team reached the finals, and we were invited to attend a very glitzy event in London.
Out of 1,600 nominees, we got into the final 10 which was a massive achievement for such a small team in Cornwall. The dedication and hard work put in by all the team is absolutely fantastic and we are proud to say we are the rainbow in people's clouds.
Elaine attended an expert patient programme course as a participant on the very first course in 2003. From there she was so taken aback by the programme, and it ticked so may boxes for her, that she decided to train to become a volunteer tutor in 2004. She was offered a coordinator's role with South Hams Primary Care Trust and then went to work as a trainer for Arthritis Care for 5 years to gain further experience in delivering self-management courses.
In 2013, Cornwall were recruiting for a new manager, and she was delighted to get the role, which she had worked her way up to over the last 10 years.
"I have the most amazing and inspirational team who believe in our course content and the impact it can have on people living with long-term health conditions and their carers."
Lizzie attended one of our Newquay courses in 2014, after a work injury left her in permanent pain and having to undergo surgery. She was very worried about training to become a tutor as she has dyslexia, but we assured her this should not be a barrier and that we would support her in her new role as volunteer tutor. She has never looked back and is a very dedicated and important part of the team.
Denise attended an expert patient programme course at the Merlin MS Centre in 2013 and was so inspired that she asked to be trained up so she could deliver the course to other people living with long-term ill health.
In 2014, Denise qualified as a volunteer tutor. She shows empathy, gentleness and is a very compassionate lady who enjoys delivering the course. Denise also has done her level 2 counselling and has been a befriender for Face2Face in the past, supporting families who have children with disabilities.
Karen attended an expert patient programme course in 2017, due to cerebral palsy having an increasing impact on her life. She found the course so helpful and empowering at a low point in her life that she decided to train to become a volunteer tutor.
Karen made some good friends on her course as a participant in 2017, who she is still in touch with to this day. Having benefitted so much from the course, Karen qualified as a volunteer tutor in 2019. She is currently studying an NLP course.
Alan attended an expert patient programme course in 2018 in his capacity as carer for his wife, immediately saw the value in the program and volunteered to train to become a tutor. He qualified as a volunteer tutor in 2019 and since the pandemic began has assisted in adapting the program for online presentation.
Kath attended an expert patient programme course in 2009 following a diagnosis of fibromyalgia at the age of 27. Attending the course changed her life, having spent the previous 3 years staying at home focusing on every symptom and change related to her long-term condition, to a house purchase and her first pregnancy within 3 months of completing the course. She qualified as a volunteer tutor in 2019 with Alan and Karen. She was delighted to be offered the temporary position of expert patient programme course coordinator in January 2022.
