What is Patient Participation?

Patient Participation is forming an independent group of patients, run by patients, for patients, that can meet with and work with professionals and leaders in the Health Service to shape the way they receive health services. 

 

Co-production

The modern theory of how to design safe health systems is called co-production. This involves working with patients instead of just for patients.  

This is better, and gets much better results, than the old ways of working.  This is because patients know what they need and what their problems are, and when they work together with experts and professionals, the Health Service can design safer and better systems faster.  

And for any NHS mangers or politicans reading, this also means cost savings because you reduce waste!

Robbie Coull. the GP in Strachur says, "I've been doing co-production for 15 years, which means I started doing it before it was called co-production.  Once you have seen it working, you can't go back."

 

The old ways of doing things don't work

The NHS was set up to provide health care free at the point of need for all ages.   It includes all kinds of health services, from major emergencies to keeping people healthy and avoiding illness.

Over time the way the NHS delivers services changes.  This can be because of changes in society or improvements in medical science.  

Traditionally, the NHS told patients what kind of services they would get and how they would be delivered.  Patients had no say in this.  This is called a paternalistic system.  

Paternalism has lots of problems.  Firstly, it's  not a great way to design services.  If the experts get the design wrong, then they only find out later when things start to go wrong or patients start to complain or object.  This is very inefficient and it harms patients.  This becomes more true as systems get more complex. 

Coproduction is a much better way to design services.

 

How do we make patient participation work?

As with all new types of working, not everyone likes co-production.  Some experts, used to the old sytem, find it difficult to give up their control over projects to patients.  But once people have experienced the benefits of co-production, they don't want to go back!

Patient participation is the first step towards co-production. 

A Patient Participation Group is an independent group formed from a representative cross section of patients who are able to be a bridge between patients and experts such as NHS managers and doctors.

Other Patient Participation Groups we have set up

Strachur Medical Practice set up Cowal's first Patient Participation Group in 2012 after Robbie Coull (GP) set up the first Patient Participation Group in Prince Edward Island, Canada in 2009.  

Robbie Coull says: "There are lots of benefits to patients and the health service of working closely together, and the success of our Patient Participation Group has been the backbone of our success as a practice."

The Strachur PPG won a national NHS award in 2020 for their work.

 

The future

The Cowal Youth Patient Participation Group will be independent from the Health Service, and represent the views of young patients in Cowal.  

If you would like to be involved in the Cowal Youth Patient Participation Group, then contact us using the contact form on this page.