Top picks - the value of the patient voice in patient safety

Summary

Patient and family voices play a critical role in understanding patient safety issues, learning from incidents and managing risk. In this Top picks, we’ve pulled together resources from the hub that highlight the value in involving patients and the public in patient safety. 

Content

Using patient stories to create significant impact and improve cancer patient experience

The Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance (CMCA) were finalists in the 'Partnership Working to Improve the Experience' category at the Patient Experience Network 2025 Awards. In this blog, CMCA explain how patient stories are deliberately integrated into their governance, learning and pathway redesign, and how this approach transforms storytelling from passive listening into active improvement.

Why the patient voice matters when things go wrong

Risa Mallory is a retired psychotherapist from Canada. After a serious cardiovascular event in 2018 she became a patient advocate, collaborating with organisations across the globe. In this blog, Risa describes why patient involvement is critical when things go wrong in healthcare

The role of simulation-based education, co-design and co-delivery in improving patient safety

Dr Kirsten Howson, Specialist Education Lead at SimComm Academy, discusses the role Simulation-Based Education (SBE) can have in patient safety. Kirsten highlights some of the techniques used in SBE, the benefits for staff and patients, and the importance of involving people with lived experience in the design and delivery of SBE.

Working with bereaved parents for safer and more equitable care

Julia Clark and Mehali Patel from the Sands Saving Babies’ Lives research team, draw on their recent Listening Project to illustrate the value of working with bereaved parents. Julia and Mehali argue that hearing and amplifying these unique insights is vital to developing safer, more equitable neonatal and maternity care.

Integrating patient and public involvement into co-design of healthcare improvement: a case study in maternity care (March 2025)

Despite recognition of the importance of patient and public involvement (PPI) in healthcare improvement, compelling examples of “what good looks like” for PPI in co-design of improvement efforts, how it might be done, and formalisation of methods and reporting are lacking. The authors of this study sought to address these gaps through a case study.

Patient safety and lived experience

Anthony O'Connor works primarily in the areas of lived experience and in co-production and strives to have both of these concepts better understood, and more effectively utilised wherever possible. In this blog he focuses on lived experience, its definition, its usage, and its impact. 

Patient safety and co-production

Anthony O’Connor talks about the benefits of co-production and why it is essential to patient safety. Anthony gives examples of how co-production can be used more in healthcare and encourages everyone to develop their knowledge of co-production and start embedding it into their work. 

Providing patient-safe care begins with asking and listening... really listening!

Dan Cohen talks about how patient-safe care is all about collaborating and listening to your patients to find out what really matters to them. He illustrates this in a case study of his own personal experience whilst working as a clinician in the USA.

Catching cancer early: what more can we do as GPs?

GP, Amelia Randle sets out a number of ways clinicians can develop their daily practice to improve cancer diagnosis at an early stage. Amelia talks about involving patients in questioning symptoms, deep listening and learning from patients and families.

“Listening to a patient’s history for longer can help doctors make the right diagnosis”

Mary Dahm and Carmel Crock tell us more about their research to explore the relationship between communication and diagnostic accuracy. The findings highlight how critical it is to spend time listening to the patient, and for doctors to communicate uncertainties well. 

Share your insights

Have you been involved in safety improvements as a patient? Or perhaps you’re a healthcare professional who has made safety improvements that were informed by the patient voice? Could you share your insights on the value of the patient voice in patient safety?

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