Patient and public participation is happening across NHS England in a range of ways. Below you will find just a couple of examples of how we are working with patients and the public to understand their experiences of using healthcare services. The ‘how to get involved’ section includes more information about the ways in which patients and the public can get involved in our work.

NHS Citizen

The NHS Citizen project is giving the public a say on health services and the opportunity to influence NHS England’s decision making. It allows members of the public to get involved in setting the healthcare agenda on an informal basis.

Specialist children’s dental services

We ran an event in partnership with the dental school at Sheffield University for children, young people and their families so that they could talk about their experiences of using specialist paediatric dental services with each other, dental professionals and commissioners. The aim of the event was to give patients and their families the opportunity to feedback on their visits and treatment so that their views could help to shape a new guide for commissioners of specialist children’s dental services.  By listening to their comments and ideas commissioners can better understand the patients’ needs and provide services which improve their experience and care outcomes. You can read more about the event and how it will help to change patients’ care by reading this blog from one of the dental professionals who was at the event.

Specialised services – gender identity

We plan and pay for a number of specialised services. These are health services for rare conditions or used by relatively small numbers of people. One of the specialised services is gender identity services. NHS England has been working with patients to improve the health service experience of people who face discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their assigned gender at birth and the gender they identify as.

By working with patients to understand what is not working NHS England can take steps to make health services better. You can find out more about this area of work in Will Huxter’s blog.