Simon Stone

Simon Stones is an award-winning patient leader, advocate and researcher, who was the winner of the international WEGO Health Award for Patient Healthcare Collaborator in 2017. He is a passionate advocate and ambassador for people living with invisible illnesses, inspired and empowered by his own journey with arthritis, fibromyalgia, and inflammatory bowel disease since childhood, and his experience as a carer for his mother who has a significant amount of ill health. As a result, self-management and self-care have become fundamental, and quite frankly, life-enhancing strategies which he has used to advocate for better care. Simon believes it is essential that people are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to be able to manage their own health and wellbeing. He is advancing this concept among young people living with arthritis in his PhD research, where he is looking at integrating self- and shared-management support across the patient journey. Simon is also an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, a trustee of Fibromyalgia Action UK and RAiISE – Invisible Illnesses in Schools and Education.