The Society For Obesity and Bariatric Anaesthesia
Patient Advocates
Bringing lived experience into the work of SOBA UK
The experiences and perspectives of people living with obesity are an important part of improving anaesthesia and perioperative care. Our Patient Advocates, Angela and Paul Chesworth, help ensure that lived experience informs SOBA UK’s education, guidance and wider work.
Angela and Paul Chesworth
Angela and Paul bring extensive lived experience of obesity, weight management and healthcare. They are passionate about ensuring that the voices of people living with obesity are heard and understood by healthcare professionals.
Their advocacy highlights some of the challenges people living with obesity can face when accessing healthcare, including weight stigma, bias and barriers to appropriate treatment. They also bring perspectives from their own experiences of bariatric surgery and other approaches to obesity treatment.
Paul first became involved with SOBA UK during the development of our consent guidance, contributing a patient perspective to the work. This developed into a continuing relationship with the Society, with Angela and Paul becoming SOBA UK Patient Advocates.
Why lived experience matters
Clinical expertise is only one part of improving care. Listening to people with lived experience can help healthcare professionals understand how our language, assumptions, environments and clinical decisions are experienced by patients.
Through our Patient Advocates, SOBA UK aims to promote respectful, person-centred care, challenge weight stigma and ensure that the patient perspective is represented in our work.
Obesity Through a Different Lens
Angela and Paul have spoken about their experiences and the importance of changing the way obesity is understood and discussed.
Watch: Obesity Through a Different Lens