North East and Yorkshire Adult Neurosurgery Network Board – Patient and public voice (PPV) partner

Have you or a family member accessed neurosurgical services in the North East and Yorkshire region?

Would you like to use your experience to help shape NHS patient services?

We need someone with lived experience who can join our Neurosurgery Network in North East and Yorkshire.

Time commitment – average of approximately 2 hours every month.

If you would like to express an interest in the role, or to get in touch with us for an informal chat, please contact network team members as below by close of play Friday 1 August 2025.

Lisa Cunnington, Network Manager for Neurosurgery
Email: LisaCunnington@nhs.net
Mobile number: 07917 154 205

Kathryn Bacon, Network Programme Support Officer
Email: Kathryn.Bacon@nhs.net

What is the North East and Yorkshire Neurosurgery Network?

The Neurosurgery Network provides professional and clinical leadership and is the vehicle for co-ordinating patient pathways between providers over a wide geographical area to ensure access to specialist resources and expertise.

The network is made up of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, managers, commissioners and patient and public voice representatives who work collaboratively to share learning, experiences, knowledge, skills and best practice for the benefit of everyone within that specialist environment.

The aim of the network is to:

• improve access to neurosurgery care and treatments to deliver the right care at the right place at the right time
• ensure services are as safe as possible
• ensure there is equity of access to neurosurgery services across the region
• contribute to how the quality and effectiveness of care can improve patient outcomes
• contribute examples of experiences to improve knowledge and provide development and learning for all involved
• encourage the dissemination of good practice and significant achievements

Main purpose of the role

The role of the PPV partner (representative) is to offer views and direct experiences of patients and their family members or carers.

The patient and public voice is vital in helping to improve the care that is provided across the North East and Yorkshire Neurosurgery Network.

We welcome people from a diverse background to drive forward transformation of neurosurgical patient pathways together with improving patient experience and quality of care.

We are currently looking to recruit a further 2 PPV partners to our Network Board membership, which meets on a quarterly basis.

This will ensure there is a cross-section of experience and geographical spread across region. This will support balancing of e-patient and carer perspectives, provide mutual peer support and cross cover, if required.

The role of the PPV partner

1. Ensure that the patient voice is heard and listened to.
2. To be a ‘critical friend’ in order to provide constructive feedback to services that need to improve.
3. To represent the views and experiences of patients and their family members and carers to help influence change.
4. Your own lived experience is important, but it is also important to represent everyone’s views.
5. Attend and contribute to Network Board meetings on a quarterly basis to represent the patient and public voice views and opinions. This is predominately via teleconference; however, there may be ad hoc face-to-face workshops and events as and when required.
6. You will be asked to set aside time for reading so that you know what to expect of the Network Board meeting, and respond to correspondence via telephone and email depending on your preference.
7. To offer feedback as to how services across the Neurosurgery Network are working subject to your experience and insights.
8. Encourage the Neurosurgery Network to regularly review patient and family experiences of neurosurgery services.
9. If you are an active member of a charity or support group or third sector organisation we may ask you to seek the views of other members on a particular subject area. This may help to obtain wider patients and family perspective patients and carer experiences. We may ask you to network with local support groups to access opinions on a specific subject matter but we will provide support to help facilitate this on a case by case basis.
10. You will be required to maintain confidentiality and ensure information is only shared outside organisations on the agreement of the Neurosurgery Network Board.
11. We may ask you to review patient information leaflets and documents about services and provide feedback.

Skills and abilities

While the experience listed below would be helpful it is not essential. We want everyone to feel welcome. Living with neurosurgical condition makes you an expert in this subject area.

We would like to offer term of appointment for 3 years with an opportunity to extend for an additional year.

As a PPV partner you may decide to discontinue your involvement at any time in line with your health needs, personal or carer commitments.

1. Experience of speaking in groups.
2. Ability to understand and evaluate a range of information.
3. Previous experience of representing PPV in healthcare forums desirable but not essential.
4. Experience of working in partnership with healthcare organisations or programmes.
5. Have an awareness of, and commitment to, equality and diversity.
6. Understand the need for confidentiality and to ask if in doubt or in need for clarification.
7. A commitment to the ‘7 principles of public life’ known as the ‘Nolan Principles’: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, leadership.
8. Ability to represent the views of other patients and family members who may have experienced a neurosurgical journey relevant and local to the geographical area.
9. Be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas.
10. We welcome people who use other forms of communication such as sign language, Makaton or braille, etc, and will endeavour to meet any reasonable adjustments on a case-by-case basis. Please discuss this with the network team in advance to ensure your needs can be met in a timely manner.
11. Be respectful of the views and ideas of all parties at all times.
12. Have an interest in helping to improve the quality of care that is provided.
13. Be willing to seek support and advice for yourself whenever you feel it is needed.
14. Put aside previous personal and organisational relationships, and not to lobby or advocate for a particular interest or group.
15. Ability to display sound judgement and objectivity and act in a way and treat everyone with whom you come into contact equally, with respect and without discrimination.

Experience

• Personal experience of a neurosurgery service within the last 5 years.

Role requirements

• To be committed to be involved in the development of the neurosurgery work programme, maximum tenure of 4 years.
• Attendance and participate at network board meetings every 3 months These will mostly take place virtually via MS Teams (with telephone dial in facilities available too, if you prefer).
• Approximately 1-hour preparation for the meeting to read through agenda and papers.
• Capacity to attend possible face-to-face meetings, workshops and events organised through the network on a case-by-case basis.
• Willingness to have catch up calls as required for mutual support.
• Access to email and telephone and a degree of IT familiarity.
• Willingness to respond to communications in a timely manner.
• We may seek your input and guidance on engagement and involvement strategies and events to ensure we are patient led and focused at all times as the network continues to mature in its development.

What you are entitled to

As our PPV representative, there are certain things you are entitled to:

Finance

You will be able to claim back expenses as detailed below:

• Mandatory training (1 day per year).
• Online expenses (£5 per online meeting).
• Attending one-off events and meetings – £75 for a half day, or £150 for a full day.
• PPV partners will automatically receive statutory holiday pay, equivalent to 12.5% of their earnings, every 3 months.
  • For example, if they earn £400 in involvement payments between April and June, they will automatically receive an additional £50 in August. This is processed automatically.

Other benefits

As our PPV representative, you are also entitled to access the benefits advice service, the patient and public voice partner network, as well as accessing free coaching.

See the webpage on learning and support in this role for further information.

PPV partners can also access the NHS England Employee Assistance Programme for health and wellbeing support.