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Best patient/public-involvement/engagement

Shortlisted

• A vision for true engagement – Coastal Community Healthcare Consortium

• Patient empowerment within clinical commissioning project – Fleetwood Community Commissioning Group

• Partners in health – Principia

Winner - Principia, Partners in Health

Patient and public involvement runs right through social enterprise model Principia. Patients make up the majority of representation on the company board and are strongly involved in service redesign .

Principia plans and delivers local health services in Rushcliffe, a borough of Nottinghamshire. It brings together 16 general practices, community health staff, patients and the public to ensure local health services are designed around the specific needs of the local population. Patients and the public are engaged at all levels of the organisation and are firmly embedded in the process of shaping local health services.

Elsewhere in the organisation, a patient reference group steers patient and public involvement. The engagement work programme and GP member practices are supported by a patient participation group, which encourages patients to sign up to the Principia Health Network. Regular newsletters and updates are also sent out, carrying requests for members of the public to become involved in service redesign work.

Principia works on the principle that no task group is established without lay representation. Patient representatives are provided with a project plan, code of conduct, terms of reference, a ‘jargon buster' and expenses forms in order to make an informed decision about the level of involvement required.

One example of how patient representation works in the Principia model is the planning and establishment of an urgent community support service.

Key governance and working groups within Principia were established – including a patient reference group, urgent care steering group, community ward steering group and cardio-respiratory group.

 They all recognised the gap in current local services and strongly supported the pilot of the service. Patient representatives were key stakeholders throughout the development of both the service model and specification, procurement process and evaluation.

Judge's Comments

Good patient-led structure. Good to see involvement in service redesign, and support provided to the patients involved in the work.

Val Moore , implementation programme director, NICE

Exemplary and pioneering practice from an established consortium that has made patient and public involvement part of its core philosophy.

Neil Churchill, chief executive, Asthma UK