David Jones-Stanley’s Story and Mission
Leadership, Lived Experience, and Advocacy
David is a service transformation leader who became a patient, and now brings both perspectives to strengthening cancer care and patient voice.
With over 20 years’ experience leading complex services David has built his career around designing systems that work better for the people who rely on them.
At 46, he was diagnosed with stage 3 oesophageal cancer.
Experiencing healthcare from a hospital bed, and not a boardroom, reshaped how he sees leadership, advocacy, and the role of patient voice in shaping better care.
Behind every pathway, every policy, and every statistic, there is a person.
Using Leadership to Strengthen Patient Voice
David’s advocacy work is grounded in more than lived experience. It is strengthened by his understanding of how healthcare systems operate, how governance works, and how decisions are made.
He currently:
- Sits on the Greater Manchester Gastro-Oesophageal Cancer Pathway Board as a Patient Representative
- Serves as a Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance Patient Representative
- Supports The Christie NHS Foundation Trust as a patient representative, including contributions to the “We Are The Christie” series
- Works with Macmillan to amplify patient insight
- Supports Heartburn Cancer UK through awareness and guest blogs
- Collaborates with Made by Mortals to co-design empathy resources such as My Friend Has Cancer
- Contributes to clinical education programmes, ensuring the patient voice shapes training
- Supports regional campaigns raising awareness of oesophageal cancer
In each of these roles, David brings structure, clarity, and strategic thinking, helping translate lived experience into meaningful system improvement.
Bridging Systems and Survivorship
David has spoken at international and national genomics conferences, university education events, and national cancer forums, sharing the patient perspective in discussions about personalised medicine, service design, and survivorship.
His unique contribution lies in bridging two worlds:
- Understanding how systems are designed
- Understanding what it feels like to live within them
He believes that effective advocacy is not about volume but about credibility, collaboration, and constructive challenge.
Author of Gulp
David wrote Gulp to provide the honesty he searched for when first diagnosed. The book explores the reality of treatment, recovery, mental resilience, and life after cancer, without sugar-coating.
It reflects the same principle that guides his advocacy work:
Behind every pathway, every policy, and every statistic, there is a person.
Today
David continues to combine executive leadership experience with patient advocacy, working to ensure that lived experience meaningfully shapes cancer care, education, and awareness.
He believes the patient voice should not sit on the margins of healthcare design — it should sit at the table.