Donald McIntosh has won Volunteer of the Year at the Ayrshire and
Arran awards for his work on the Health Foundation’s Co-creating Health
programme.
He was awarded the prize at a ceremony on 25
November for his dedicated commitment to Co-creating Health. Over 130
members of NHS Ayrshire and Arran staff, volunteers and the public
attended to show their support for the 25 finalists. ‘It was quite a
surprise to receive the award,’ he said. ‘I really enjoyed the whole
evening.’
The Volunteer of the Year award recognises an
individual, group or charity for their hard work and dedication to
providing high quality care.
Co-creating Health is a
self-management support initiative that aims to transform healthcare
for people with long-term conditions. Donald McIntosh believes that
patients ‘have to be involved because they’re the people with the
illness and they’re the people who live with it.’
Donald was one
of the first people to go through the Co-creating Health
self-management programme and has since given up his time to train to
be a tutor and has worked with both fellow patients and clinicians.
‘Although
you may have two or three people with the same illness, they may not
have the same issues but they may be able to help each other with
different aspects of the illness. That’s one of the good reasons why we
have Co-creating Health, so that patients can help each other and also
learn more about the clinicians work involved in it.’