NHS looking for an £115k 'director for lived experience' who can create 'brave spaces' for patients
16 December 2022, 19:56
An NHS trust is advertising for a "director for lived experience" on £115,000 per year, amid nurses striking over pay and spiralling waiting lists.
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The Midlands Partnership NHS Trust, which posted the job ad, said it was proud of creating the first role of its kind in the NHS.
Critics argued that the director for lived experience job was a "kick in the teeth" at a time when nurses are on strike over pay and patient backlogs are sky-high.
The successful candidate for the new job will be "interpersonally talented" and a "strategic bridge-builder", according to adverts for the job placed on the NHS recruitment website and LinkedIn.
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The candidate must have a "personal experience of life-altering health condition(s)" and then "experienced significant power imbalances" when being treated.
One of the main tasks for the person who gets the job will be tackling power imbalances in the health service, a supplementary document says.
The document reads: "The director will broker psychologically safe environments that allow people to co-produce and become equal partners in their care.
The director will also make "brave spaces" for patients and families to be able to give feedback on the trust.
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Other areas of focus include looking for "seldom heard" disadvantaged groups "who may experience health inequalities".
It comes as tens of thousands of nurses went on strike on Thursday, with another strike date planned for Tuesday, over a pay dispute with the government.
Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance, told the MailOnline that the NHS could not afford to use money for salaries pf people in "non-jobs" when the NHS was struggling so much financially.
He said: "Well-paid non-jobs like this are a kick in the teeth for hard-pressed taxpayers," he said.
"At a time when nurses are striking over pay and patients wait on backlogs, there can be no excuse for trusts squandering cash.'The health service must put an end to these right-on roles and focus resources on frontline care."
The Midlands Partnership NHS Trust defended the new role, saying it would help patients become more active in decisions about their own care.
Trust chief executive Neil Carr said: "For almost 10 years, MPFT has been leading the way in using the experience of people who use our services to improve them.
"National guidance recommends appointing a patient director who is responsible for raising the profile of the service user voice in planning, implementing and monitoring shared decision making.
"We are proud to be continuing our tradition of co-production."
