Guest blog by Rachel Power, Chief Executive, Patients Association
At the Patients Association, we’ve seen the transformative power of shared decision making and patient partnership.
Work we’ve done in partnership to empower patients with musculoskeletal conditions by giving them the tools to make informed treatment choices demonstrated how patient partnership delivers for patients and the NHS.
That project with patients, healthcare professionals, the Patient Information Forum and Nottinghamshire ICB focused on removing barriers to shared decision making. As a collective, participants reviewed patient resources – some already developed, others in development – designed to support patients’ decisions. Patients’ views were fully incorporated, and the revised resources helped both patients and those caring for them, in improving outcomes.
We believe this kind of partnership work needs to be replicated at a national level and across all of healthcare, not just musculoskeletal conditions. While the idea of patient partnership has been discussed in NHS policy for years, it has not yet become an embedded practice consistently applied across the health service.
In our general election manifesto, we call on all political parties to prioritise healthcare partnership between the NHS and the patients it serves. We call on the next Government to take bold steps to transition patient partnership from theory into genuine day-to-day practice throughout the NHS.
Specifically, we are calling on the next Government to commit to be:
- Reviewing and updating the NHS Constitution through full collaboration with patients to ensure it properly enshrines patient partnership and reflects current needs.
- Making shared decision-making mandatory across all NHS services, with financial incentives for Trusts meeting robust expectations developed in partnership with patients.
- Amplifying patient voices by ensuring proper patient representation on NHS decision-making bodies at all levels to align policies with patient needs.
- Empowering Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to enhance service experiences through data and patient-reported feedback, driving continuous improvement focused on patient-centric measures.
- Equipping all healthcare professionals with the necessary skills for authentic patient partnership through comprehensive training programs developed and delivered in collaboration with patients and carers.
We have seen firsthand how patient partnership can transform care. The next government must firmly commit to making this a reality across the NHS, not just an aspiration. Only through true partnership at every level can we create a health service that delivers the outcomes patients need and deserve.
Embedding patient partnership will require sustained leadership and a fundamental culture shift within the NHS. This must start from the very top, with the Government setting a clear vision and empowering NHS organisations to achieve it. Listening and collaborating with patients must become hard-wired into everything the NHS does.
Achieving this transition will not be easy. It will require significant cultural change, robust accountability measures, and an ongoing commitment to continual improvement based on patient feedback. However, the long-term benefits for patient care and the sustainability of the NHS make it an imperative that cannot be ignored. We urge all parties to embrace this critical agenda if elected.