Creating a patient-centred future
Building relationships with service users allows students to understand their future patients as a whole person beyond their medical diagnosis. Hearing first-hand about their needs, anxieties and experience of the disease develops empathy and lays the groundwork for a truly holistic approach to care.
Btesam, a newly qualified Therapeutic Radiographer, talks about the lasting impression that speaking with service users had on her. Their insights made her aware of how much impact healthcare professionals have on the overall experience of patients.
Partnership and empowerment
As well as benefiting the students, we’ve also had very positive feedback from our service user volunteers. For some, it helped them to reflect and process their experience of breast cancer. Others formed new friendships and support networks. But they all shared a sense of empowerment in being able to shape the experience of future patients.
What our volunteers bring to the partnership
Our volunteer network
We recruited service users from our Breast Cancer Voices network - an incredible group of people who use their diverse experiences to help influence and improve work in the world of breast cancer treatment and care.
A reciprocal relationship
What makes service user involvement so sustainable and effective is the reciprocal nature of the relationship – the extraordinary range of skills and experience they bring, and how much they benefit too. Hear our volunteers talk about what motivates them.
The power to make a difference
Amanda, a retired radiographer who lost her daughter to breast cancer, talks about how privileged she feels to be able to use her own experience to encourage and support the healthcare professionals of the future. Read Amanda's blog
Coming into academia fresh, I’d never really thought about this idea of involving service users in student education and now I couldn’t see a course that would exist without them, they’ve made such an impact from the get-go.
Matt Carr, Lecturer in Diagnostic Radiography
Radiography courses at City
Students can study either diagnostic or therapeutic radiography at City. Diagnostic radiographers use imaging techniques to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of illness. Therapeutic radiographers use advanced technology to plan and deliver highly accurate radiotherapy for people with cancer - check out their course pages to learn more.