Being ready for meaningful Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement, and why it matters for patient safety

Summary

In this blog, Aurora Todisco, our Topic leader for Patient Engagement, explains why it is important for an organisation to be ready before they embark on Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE).

Aurora outlines five steps to help teams assess their readiness for meaningful PPIE, illustrating a clear link to patient safety.

Content

When it comes to Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE), readiness isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a safety issue. Without preparation, involvement risks becoming tokenistic, rushed, or disconnected from decision-making. This not only undermines trust, but can also mean that valuable insights are missed, leaving potential risks to patient safety unaddressed.

Readiness is about creating the right conditions, so involvement adds real value. It signals to people with lived experience that their time and contributions matter, while also ensuring organisations are in a position to listen, act, and embed learning.

The risks of not being ready include wasted time, frustration for all parties, and missed opportunities to prevent harm or improve care.

Here are five steps to help teams assess their readiness for meaningful PPIE:

1. Clear purpose

Before inviting people to be involved, organisations need to be clear on why. What is the purpose of involvement? How will input be used? If the purpose is vague, participants are left unsure of their role, and outcomes are less likely to have impact. Defining a clear purpose helps align expectations from the outset.

2. Leadership and accountability

Meaningful PPIE requires more than goodwill — it needs leadership backing and accountability. Senior leaders must support involvement efforts, resource them appropriately, and be willing to act on the insights shared. Without this, PPIE risks becoming superficial rather than systemic.

3. Resources and support

Involvement is rarely effective if it’s done on goodwill alone. Budgets, staff time, and accessible materials are essential. So too is support for participants, whether that’s covering expenses, providing training, or ensuring accessibility needs are met. Readiness means ensuring resources are in place before starting.

4. Inclusive processes

Readiness also involves creating spaces and processes where diverse voices can genuinely contribute. This means thinking about practicalities — such as language, format, and accessibility — but also about culture. Are meetings welcoming? Are there mechanisms to ensure quieter voices are heard? Inclusivity is a hallmark of readiness.

5. Follow-through and feedback

Finally, readiness means committing to follow through. Involvement is not complete until participants know how their input has been considered, what has changed, and what hasn’t. Closing the feedback loop builds trust and demonstrates respect for lived experience.

Readiness sets the tone for whether involvement is meaningful or tokenistic. By preparing well, organisations not only show respect to those sharing their experiences but also strengthen safety by acting on insights that highlight risks and opportunities for improvement. Getting ready is the first step towards making PPIE a driver of safer, more effective care.

About the Author

Aurora Todisco is a Finance, HR, and Governance Development Lead with over 21 years of experience, including the past 9 years dedicated to the health and social care sector. She brings a unique blend of strategic expertise and lived experience to her work, with a strong focus on improving patient safety, health equity and quality of care. Aurora holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Primary Care Management, which informs her systems-level approach to healthcare leadership. Since 2021, she has co-produced initiatives with nearly 90 national stakeholders, driving forward accessibility inclusion, and trauma-informed practice across NHS, academic and research settings. Actively involved in quality improvement programmes, accreditation panels and advisory groups, Aurora is passionate about amplifying patient and public voices to shape meaningful, system-wide change. Her work champions the power of real patient stories in creating campaigns that lead to safer, more equitable care for all.