Patient and Carer Partnership Board

What is the Patient and Carer Partnership Board?

The Patient and Carer Partnership Board at Velindre Cancer Centre is designed to represent and promote the views of those with lived experience of cancer. Our primary role is in providing a forum to discuss and obtain input into current and future services.

Established in 2002, the board is the binding voice of the people and the profession, creating a two-way conversation ensuring that the perspectives of patients, carers and their family members are carefully considered in our decision making. The board works in partnership with our teams to support, understand and evolve their work.

Members are encouraged to be pro-active in listening to the current views of our patients and carers before raising comments and concerns with management to aid ongoing service improvement.

Members of the Patient and Carer Partnership Board are influencers for change.

Is this right for me?

Our Patient and Carer Partnership Board members are passionate and reliable individuals who can confidently advocate for others. Using their own lived experience and, the views shared by others, they can collaborate with our staff to recommend improvements based on their understanding of the patient population.

Hearing the experiences and views of current and former patients can be difficult, especially if you have your own connection to Velindre. Our number one priority is the well-being of our members so we would encourage you to be open and honest about whether this is an appropriate opportunity for you at this time.

To ensure our board is representative of the communities we serve, we are looking for individuals with current or recent experience of cancer services in Wales (this could be up to 5 years pervious to now). We are also seeking a range of individuals who represent different backgrounds, communities and cultures.

What is involved?

At a minimum, members will meet once a month, face-to-face at Velindre to review and discuss the latest topics. All members will have the opportunity to become a patient and carer representative on selected boards, speak at staff training events and regularly engage with our current patient and carer community through our ‘Listening Post’.

How do I apply?

To express your interest in becoming a member of our Patient and Carer Partnership Board, please complete this short form (opens in new tab).

Following this, we will contact you to arrange an informal coffee to discuss the board and your experience in more detail. This meeting is a chance for you to see if this opportunity is right for you and for us to better understand what perspective you could offer the board.

If you still wish to continue, and your application is successful, we will formally offer you an invitation to become a member.