Expert Patients Programme
What is it?
The Expert Patients Programme (EPP) is a self management course of seven weeks in length that provides opportunities for people who live with a long term or chronic health condition or care for someone with a long term or chronic health condition, to develop new skills to better manage their health and well-being.
The course is led by trained tutors, in many instances volunteers, who all have experience of living with a long term health condition. Participants get the opportunity to meet other people who share similar experiences.
The course covers a range of self-management skills, including symptom management, dealing with difficult emotions, problem solving and action planning. It also informs participants how to access resources and how to work with health professionals. Each session is run by two tutors. All the tutors have previously attended an expert patient programme. To become a tutor the volunteers have attended a short training course and are assessed in practice.
Each programme starts with a pre-course meeting for all participants, which is held a week before the date of the first session. The pre-course meetings are an opportunity for participants to:
- visit the venue
- meet the tutors who will be delivering the programme
- find out what will be covered in the programme
- ask any questions
