I heard about the group from my social worker and was really interested in finding out more.  I’ve had a lot of experience of hospital care as a teenager and clearly remember my experiences and time in hospital having operations and treatment. I am passionate about helping others and hope that sharing my experiences with the panel will help people in the future to get the right treatment and respect when they go into hospital.

I also wanted to share my experience from a Jewish perspective, which has a different culture and beliefs to other communities. We have lots of festivals and it can be difficult being in hospital during these times. I joined Patient Voices Matter hoping to help others to understand more about these difficulties. Working with PVM, I’ve been able to discuss with Jewish care, end of life care, which is very different for Jewish people to secular patients and other cultures.

It has been nice to be able to take part.  I have really, really enjoyed being involved and enjoyed helping.  Generally, I enjoy helping and being helpful. All members of PVM are there for one primary reason – to try and help each other and that’s been very important for me.  We all wish that health and social care services would provide a service that works well of any kind of person despite their ability or disability or race or colour.

We all have different expectations and limitations and both have to be met equally by healthcare services. It’s really important to me that people are listened to and given the help they need to have a voice.

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