The client

NHS

The challenge

Two thirds of people admitted as emergencies to UK hospitals are chronically ill or suffering complications from existing conditions. 60 per cent of hospital bed days are used by this group.

What we did

Staff from the University's coaching and mentoring team have been training a group of patients with chronic health conditions in mentoring skills, so they can share their experiences with doctors and other healthcare professionals in an effort to promote understanding of the realities of living with long-term health problems.

The results

The expert patient initiative aims to reduce waiting lists and healthcare spending by encouraging patients who have learned to 'self-manage' their conditions to pass on their experience to newly diagnosed sufferers, saving them from always having to go to their GP for advice.

'The whole concept of the expert patient approach is to recognise that it is of great benefit to people with chronic health problems to take back control of their illness and reduce their dependency on the medical profession,' said Professor Bob Garvey of Sheffield Business School.

'By helping patients to develop mentoring skills, we are hoping to help them share their expertise in developing ways of managing their own conditions, which will not only be beneficial to others in the same situation, but also in opening up the eyes of the medical teams as to how that knowledge and experience could help in dealing with future patients.'