Paul Mainwaring

 

Paul has a passion for championing the patients’ cause which stems from personal experience.  Despite suffering from lupus, an auto-immune disease that can be very debilitating, Paul had an extremely successful career as an international fashion consultant travelling the world.  His condition involves weekly tests and monitoring, both at his GP surgery and local hospital, because people with lupus are prone to blood clots which can be fatal. In 2002, Paul suffered a stroke which left him with permanent mobility problems and restricted sight that led to him being registered blind.

He has played a huge role in raising public awareness for the North East Manchester NHS Healthy Futures programme, Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Primary Care Trust Health Centre development program as a specialist in patient/public engagement..

Paul became involved as Chair of the Patients’ Council, a leading patient focus group, who work endlessly on explaining the impact of local health care changes to patients in each part of the affected areas and encouraging people to get involved. This model has been expanded to Blackburn, Darwen and other parts of Manchester and continues to grow. The Patients' Council is continually being recognised for its excellent work in engaging the public in developing and working in partnership with local healthcare providers, together with its patient focus engagement training programme for patients wishing to be involved in developing future healthcare.

Paul also chairs the Healthy Futures Transport Action Group and aims to improve all aspects of transport and accessibility to health services which was proven to be a main concern with the general public throughout the Healthy Futures consultation. In 2007 the Institute of Healthcare Management  awarded Paul for his work within the community with an Unsung Heroes award.