Director of Lived Experience role at NHS on £115K

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

www.healthjobsuk.com/job/UK/Staffordshire/Stafford/Midlands_Partnership_NHS_Foundation_Trust/Director/Director-v4828381

What the absolute hell? Words fail me.

That would pay the salary of 3 full time ward nurses

Do you understand what the job is @NuttyinNotts . If you do, could you let us know please, in simple terms. What does a director in the NHS do? What kinds of responsibility do they have?

NuttyinNotts

Most NHS lived experience roles are band 3, with some being up to a band 5. There is a strong evidence base behind this kind of work and it is increasingly used within the NHS.

Really? Can you explain to us thickies what the job actually is?

Why not have practical roles on half the salary and just people who know what they are talking about? At the application stage would be good.

And what are band 3, and band 5?

Lives experience roles are BS. They need to remember what the nhs is there for and employ and pay staff to do that.

Hi @NuttyinNotts

I wasn't aware it's a role for a disabled person, so not guilty in that respect.

I have questions

What's a 'lived experience role'?
What kind of work is it?
What's the evidence base for it?
Why is it a director level when most are band 3? looking at NHS pay scales, that's a significant jump in salary.

Please could you tell us more about what a lived experience role entails? I don’t really understand what it means and it seems I’m not alone.

I have a health condition and numerous bad experiences of the NHS -guess I'm qualified then. Toodles off to jack in notice, become a big cheese & quadruple salary

Sorry, but bollocks like this is why the NHS has no money.

The govt. should say no more nonsense jobs, or unnecessary, non essential treatments until all waiting lists, and essential ops and treatments are cleared.

Lived experience is essentially peer support. Generally
people who have experiences of mental distress who have experienced recovery and who then use those experiences to provide support to people facing similar issues. There's also carer peer support, where people who have experienced caring for a family member who experiences mental distress support families in the same situation.

And this is why the NHS is in the state it is and why nurses need to strike. Too many meaningless roles with over the top salaries, middle management bureaucrats with made up roles and incredible wastage whilst the people in the front line are overworked and underpaid.

@NuttyinNotts but hang on, isn't that similar to what someone in a caring role does? So shouldn't they be paid the same as a nurse? Or a social worker? Or a teacher? What would they be doing as a director, which justifies the massive salary?

No wonder the nhs is fecked.

Thank you @NuttyinNotts . I wish they’d call it peer support instead. Lived experience is such a confusing, ill-defined term.

This is precisely why the NHS is on its knees, advertising jobs with salaries like this when the nurses are on their arses. Short of funding? No they are not they are short of common sense!!

Can't believe someone thought this was a good idea, and in the middle of nurses striking.

Speaks volumes

Yes that's what those providing the peer support get, about £22k a year . But this is the person directing all the staff within those roles within the Trust. Essentially it's the peer support equivalent of director of nursing.

Lived experience roles exist as a way of reducing health inequalities. They get people into decision making positions who have actual experience of using services, disabilities or long term conditions and can advocate for what's needed. Basically means they have a say over what services are needed, how money is spent and why. And they would be involved in maintaining standards of care - working with hospitals and service providers etc. The pay will be because its director level, so they should in theory have real influence.

I'd have thought anyone visiting A&E or waiting for surgery may be able to say what services are needed.

It doesn't take a Director

I don't work for the NHS but imagine the lived experience staff at lower grades are doing impressive work training staff on how to improve patient safety and the overall patient experience drawing on learning from actual patients (could be anything from bereaved parents, the chronically sick and disabled, young people with experience of paeds etc) - and that clinical staff, quite rightly, have pushed back and said this is all very admirable and of course they would love to improve X, Y and Z but without strategic and policy changes its just not possible.

So the trust has put their money where their mouth is, and is appointing someone at a strategic level to lead this work. I imagine they will provide scrutiny of all new policies and procedures across the trust, will be consulted in the event of serious incidents and near misses, will be part of commissioning decisions, work on recruitment and retention strategies etc.

I would much rather have a pragmatic directorship like this, with someone drawing on real life experiences of the NHS than obscure, corporate bullshit, waffly stale pale male type directors.

Is it Atul Gawande that writes about how learning from patient experience can transform the safety and efficacy of surgery and other clinical treatments? I may have got the author wrong but I'm sure there's some fairly decent evidence behind this.

Glad you asked; I thought it was just me that didn’t know what these ridiculous terms mean.

Lol, the Daily Mail is on to it.

Once you've calmed down, if you go and seek the opinions of actual clinicians, I think you'll find they are fully supportive and appreciative of back office staff in the NHS who ensure everyone gets paid, keeps their medical software online and people manage behind the scenes etc.

Talk about getting your knickers in a twist about a headline without understanding what you're talking about! 🙄

Cattenberg

I wish they’d call it peer support instead. Lived experience is such a confusing, ill-defined term.

Or patient support.