Participants have shared positive feedback about the programme and sessions so far: 

“The programme has been eye-opening; I’ve learnt so much from everyone’s stories and met great people” 

“It’s been interesting sharing my voice and learning my story is a small part of a bigger story” 

Participants reported gaining confidence, inspiration, knowledge and skills: 

“I’ve gained an incredible amount of confidence. I feel enthused to tell my story. I was also inspired by everyone on the programme, so many inspiring stories.” 

Participants built a strong peer support network: 

“I had a positive experience on the patient voices programme. Being around people, sharing their different life experience, made me feel less isolated with my own.” 

Having completed the programme, participants feel motivated to explore opportunities to share their experiences and help shape services:  

“I would like to be part of promoting an awareness to people in our UK society, of how social prescribing can help support the well-being in their day to day lives alongside health care services.” 

“I would like to help other people to enrich their own wellbeing and engage positively with community services.” 

The programme has had wider impacts on participants wellbeing and interests: 

“I’d like to learn how my story and how my newfound or honed skills can be utilised in a working role. The programme has inspired some hobbies for me to improve my English writing skills, read books again, explore podcasts & new connections with people.” 

“I found the process of writing & talking about my story to people who are listening to be cathartic & inspiring. A lovely by product has been self-discovery, being able to think clearly, look at who I am right now in my life.” 

We are evaluating the programme to understand: 

• The impact of providing a platform for social prescribing patients to share their voice 
• The importance of lived experience and coproduction in shaping social prescribing services  
• The impact on the system of upskilling patients and connecting them to roles and opportunities  

Through questionnaires and interviews at different points throughout and following the programme, we are measuring: 

• Confidence levels of participants in sharing their story  
• Feedback from participants and trainers on the programme  
• Further opportunities using lived experience explored by participants following the programme 
• Social prescribing services embedding more lived experience & coproduction 
• Further collaboration opportunities or pieces of work developed as a result of the programme 
• Engagement in the case studies developed 

We collected feedback throughout the programme to continuously shape and improve sessions.

Additional sessions were shaped with participants through exploring their goals and interests. 

Outcomes and themes from the final evaluation will be shared later this year.