The Service Users and Carers Advisory Board (SUCAB) was set up in 2016 to help promote the involvement of people who use health services and those who care for them in the education of health professionals at the School of Health & Psychological Sciences (SHPS).
The members of SUCAB are service users and carers who have lived experience of the health conditions and services associated with the School’s educational programmes.
SUCAB advises those who design, lead and deliver health-care related courses on service user and carer involvement at every stage of the educational journey, from the interviewing of students, production of teaching materials and delivery of teaching sessions, right through to student evaluation.
SUCAB works with the School’s Public Engagement Facilitator, creating guidance and resources to further support service user and carer involvement across the School.
Board members
Raf Benato (chair)
Raf Benato is Senior Lecturer in Education Development in the Health Services Research and Management (HSRM) department. Raf's main areas of teaching include the implementation of educational theory into clinical practice, migration and health, public health and primary care policy and LGBTI health. Raf is the departmental Lead for Teaching Excellence and is committed to incorporating the views of service users and carers into educational programmes at all levels.
Naj Abououf
Naj gained a Health and Social Care qualification in 2012 and works as a support worker in the health and social care sector. She has one child; what she found difficult when she was going through her pregnancy was there was not enough midwife support and now her son is 3½ with a speech delay and she is liaising with her GP and Speech Therapist. She enjoys SUCAB very much and hopes to contribute a lot in the near future. She also enjoy the discussion and coming up with ideas and projects.
John Rawlings-Anderson
John is a stroke survivor, having had several strokes and transient ischaemic attacks. He has been in hospital many times over several years and accumulated extensive experience of both the NHS and overseas hospitals.
Following his most recent stroke, John was without physiotherapist or speech and language therapist for around eight weeks – “community care was very slow to be organised.”
He had been working, managing a youth and community centre, but his workplace was not supportive and John no longer works.
Sue Barnes
Sue suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) following a cycling accident in 2011. She completely lost the ability to speak, lost the use of her right arm and partially lost the use of her right leg. She was also on oxygen as her body had forgotten how to breathe.
Gaining support for rehabilitation within the NHS was extremely difficult for Sue. She was offered minimal support and for a period of only six weeks. She would not have regained her current level of speech had it not been for three years of private speech therapy.
For this reason, Sue is passionate about providing the right kind of support within the NHS for victims of TBI – “every TBI is different, and every victim's needs post TBI will be different.”
Patrick Burke
Patrick has secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and uses a mobility scooter or rollator because he can only walk a few steps even with a walking stick. A former IT professional, he took medical retirement in 2012.
He now runs Aid4disabled, a website featuring a weekly blog about his journey and reviews of disability aids for people with long term physical conditions.
Patrick also gives talks to trainee nurses about his experiences of disability and helps to interview prospective nursing students for selection - “I want to see the quality of life for people with a progressive neurological conditions improve so they can be a part of everyday society.”
Eva King
Eva is a carer to her husband and a user of health services, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management and the Archives and Records Association.
She retired after a career of more than 40 years working in various roles for statutory bodies regulating nursing, midwifery and health visiting education and practice, including a six months' secondment at the Department of Health. She is eager to contribute to the work of SUCAB and promote Person-Centred Care.
Eva is convinced that when healthcare is personalised and properly coordinated, and when people are treated with dignity, respect and compassion, we get better health outcomes.
Sarah Reed
Sarah is a passionate advocate for communicating better with people living with dementia, to improve their care. As a result of caring for her mother who had dementia, in 2008 she founded Many Happy Returns, publishing 1940s and 1950s Chatterbox conversation trigger cards which connect the generations through stories from life.
Her REAL Communication workshops help care-givers develop their communication skills. She is an associate trainer for the Social Care Institute for Excellence and a Learning and Performance Institute 2014 Gold Award winner. She created and produced the 2012 Big Care Home Conversation for My Home Life, which celebrated and promoted the work of the organisation.
An Age UK Expert-by-Experience, Sarah serves on the CQC professional Co-production Group. She is an active volunteer and trustee of national older people’s charity Contact the Elderly.
Annette Stevens
Annette has over 30 years’ experience of working in the NHS, starting as a trainee chef and working her way up to Directorate Manager in General Medicine, followed by six years as a GP's Practice Manager.
Three years ago, she was diagnosed with aggressive, stage-3 breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy and ten months of chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy. The lumpectomy lead to her spending time in intensive care after suffering anaphylactic shock and pulmonary embolism.
Annette joined a working group looking at breast care services provided by her local hospital, later worked with the University of London interviewing prospective radiotherapy students and speaking to students prior to their clinical placements - “I am passionate that I can help to ensure that service users’ needs are met and reflected as a whole.”