Essential: The Patient’s Perspective

We’ve found that the most rewarding aspects of working on the WoMMeN project is learning about mammography from a patient’s perspective. We’ve done this through chats on a closed Facebook Design Group but also by having patients form part of the project group.

Liz Morton

There’s a great blog from Liz Morton who’s helped us out on the project. Liz was particularly knowledgeable when we came to planning how  to measure the value of the hub. This is going to be the next stage of the project and the survey that’s currently on the hub is the start of that process. Thanks for your input, Liz, look forward to working with you more in the future!.

Jo Taylor

Someone who’s had an amazing impact on the team is Jo Taylor. She’s attended our monthly meetings over the last 3 years and is constantly tweeting and sharing our stuff with the wider breast screening and breast cancer community. Jo is one of those inspirational people who constantly strives to improve things for others despite going through a lot of difficult times herself. You can find out more about her on her website, After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, which was set up particularly to look at breast reconstruction. It now contains so much more!.

What do patients get from being involved in research?

We asked Jo what she got out of being on the WoMMeN team and she produced these great videos which capture her thoughts. The videos were produced at the end of 2015.

Video 1 – About Jo: here Jo tells you a little bit about herself   https://youtu.be/y_X8q1Q4wJ

Video 2 – Why Jo Joined WoMMen: A chance meeting with Cathy Hill, one of the project team. With her own experience of using Social Media to support her needs following a diagnosis of breast cancer, Jo has the perfect combination of knowledge, experience and skills to be a big voice on WoMMeN  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZpKPkNArws

Video – 3 Benefits of WoMMeN: here Jo explains why Social Media is the way to go in terms of patient information  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQYMo4fF_w

Fancy being more involved in research?

There are lots of ways you can do this. There are local patient research groups you can sign up to such as Salford Citizen Scientists (similar organisations exist throughout the country). Or if you fancy being involved in the WoMMeN project we are always looking for more research team members. You’ll get travel expenses and a (small) payment for your time. Contact Leslie for more information. Oh, and don’t forget to complete our current survey!