Can patients and the public influence primary care services? Working with patient and public representatives to explore their role

2014 Conference

Abstract: Patient and public involvement (PPI) in primary care is a changed landscape following the 2012 health reforms and the Francis report. There are new PPI organisations with established and evolving roles for patients and the public. There is also discussion about the ongoing role and impact of PPI in individual general practices. All this PPI activity has costs for the NHS, and there is pressure to understand and report its impact,  but so far there is little published evidence about what these groups are doing, why, and what potential they have to impact on the quality of primary care.

This presentation will report the results of a participatory action research project exploring these questions. The project involves working with two groups of coresearchers with experience of different primary care PPI activities and roles. The coresearchers are experienced PPI representatives and will be involved throughout the project. Together we will map the current primary care PPI groups in two local authorities; observe what is happening in six established PPI groups and interview group members about their experiences; finally we will produce case studies of different PPI groups in primary care.

Delegates will gain an understanding of the different motivations, purpose, and actions of PPI in primary care. We would like feedback from delegates about their experience of PPI in service delivery and their ideas about how our results could be used in future work exploring the impact of PPI on the quality of primary care delivery.

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