The King's Fund: Leadership for patient engagement (2012)

Summary

This report states that patient and public engagement has been on the NHS agenda for many years, but the impact has been disappointing. There have been a great many public consultations, surveys, and one-off initiatives, but it argues that the service is still not sufficiently patient-centred. In particular, it looks at a lack of focus on engaging patients in their own clinical care, despite strong evidence that this could make a real difference to health outcomes. This paper argues that a more strategic approach is required to create the necessary shift in beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

Content

Three NHS case studies (from acute care, primary care and commissioning) are described and reviewed in the light of evidence from successful organisational change in the US. Eight key features of successful leadership for patient and family centred care are outlined:

• Strong, committed senior leadership
• Active engagement of patients and families 
• Clarity of goals
• Focus on the workforce 
• Building staff capacity 
• Adequate resourcing of care delivery redesign 
• Performance measurement and feedback