1. Faculty of Medicine and Health
  2. School of Medicine
  3. People
  4. Profile

Miss Jools E Symons

  • Position: Patient & Public Involvement Manager
  • Email: J.E.Symons@leeds.ac.uk
  • Phone: +44(0)113 343 8833
  • Location: 7.09 Worsley Building

Profile

I am the Patient & Public Involvement Manager and Communication Skills Lead for Year 2 at the Leeds Institute of Medical Education (LIME). I have built up a community of over 200 active members of the Patient | Carer Community (PCC) at LIME and have also formed and lead the Lived Experience Network (LEN), an international community for Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in education and healthcare.

I have worked in higher education for over 16 years as an advocate for the full involvement of patients and carers in all aspects of the curriculum. I am a campaigner for the recognition of the knowledge and value they bring to education; striving to ‘work with’ rather than ‘use’ patients and carers. As a former carer, I am passionate about partnership working in undergraduate medical education and continue to prove that patients and carers can be successful co-creators and co-deliverers of teaching, evaluation and dissemination. As an internationally recognised expert on PPI in health education, I have contributed to Tomorrow’s Doctors (2009) guidelines for the General Medical Council, the framework for the training of all UK medical undergraduates. I have written for a number of publications such as the British Medical Journal, Health Expectations and Practice Development in Healthcare on issues such as patients as teachers and shared decision making. And I have also co-authored a chapter on Preparing for Patient-centred Practice in Beyond Reflective Practice. Currently, I am researching the role of learning disabled adults and people with dementia as educators, teaching communication skills through creative partnerships in theatre workshops.

Finally, all my PPI activities start and end with Yorkshire tea and homemade cakes, cheers!

For further information about the PCC please visit our websites: 

Patient | Carer Community

Lived Experience Network

Bright Sparks Theatre Arts Company

 

Responsibilities

  • Year 2 Communications Skills Lead
  • Lived Experience Network Lead

Qualifications

  • Fine Art BA (Hons)
  • Contemporary Fine Art Practise MA
  • Post Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education

Professional memberships

  • Higher Education Academy Senior Teaching Fellow

Research groups and institutes

  • Leeds Institute of Medical Education