New dates announced for Wakefield self-management course

“Put yourself back in control of your condition and change your life” – that is the message from a local NHS Trust after announcing new dates for its Expert Patients Programme.

The Wakefield based programme, provided by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides free self-management training for people suffering from long-term health conditions such as heart disease, depression, cancer and diabetes.

Members of the public suffering from long-term conditions who want to take control of their condition can join the programme at the following sessions:

• Wednesday 9 April – 10.30am-1pm – Pontefract Methodist Church
• Friday 11 April – 1pm-3.30pm – Castleford, Normanton and District Hospital
• Tuesday 29 April – 1pm-3.30pm – West Wakefield Methodist Church
• Thursday 1 May – 10.30am-1pm – The Springs Life Resource Centre, Hemsworth

The Expert Patients Programme is a six week long programme of group meetings designed to empower people suffering from long-term conditions and give them the tools, techniques and confidence necessary to take control of their condition and manage it better.

Sessions are led by people who have already attended the programme and have trained as tutors. Paul Barraclough attended the sessions following a twenty year battle with Type 2 diabetes and depression and has since gone on to train as a tutor for the group.

Paul explains, “I think sharing each other’s experiences really does help. It felt good knowing that I’m not the only person going through this. I’m a completely different person to the one I was before I joined the group. It’s affected me in all different ways, in areas I wouldn’t have even believed.”

The Trust has produced a series of videos highlighting how the Expert Patients Programme has helped transform the lives of hundreds of patients across the Wakefield area. All of the people in the videos are people who had a range of ongoing illnesses or conditions but had one thing in common – they wanted to control their condition and not let their condition control them. The videos are now available on the Trust’s website – www.WakefieldEPP.co.uk.

Places on the course are still available and can be booked by visiting the Trust’s website and downloading a referral form and returning to the Trust’s freepost address.

For more information on the Expert Patients Programme please call 01977 665732 or email the team using the form on the Trust’s website – www.WakefieldEPP.co.uk.