Introduction

Thank you for your interest in becoming a patient safety partner (PSP) in NHS England’s National patient safety team. PSPs can be patients, service users, carers, family members or other patient safety advocates.

The main purpose of the role is to be a voice for patients and communities and ensure that the patient perspective is at the forefront of all that we do to improve patient safety. PSPs perform a different role to NHS volunteers or other NHS public engagement work. PSPs provide a different view specifically on patient safety, which can help us to make healthcare services safer for patients.

As a PSP, your role in the team will include

• Working side by side with healthcare professionals, decision makers and other experts on a variety of projects that match your interests, skills, and availability
• Actively ensuring your perspective as an advocate, service user or patient is heard and has a real positive impact on healthcare.
• Influencing multiprofessional groups and national committees from the perspective of your patient, service user or community voice.
• Learning new skills and knowledge and making connections with a wide range of people interested in patient safety.

Essential information

Please read this expression of interest information pack before completing the form for these roles. It should help you to decide if the PSP role is right for you. We strongly encourage you to have an informal chat about being a PSP so that you have a chance to ask questions and understand the role better before you apply.  Please contact patientsafetyenquiries@nhs.net to arrange a time for a chat.

Most of the PSP role is undertaken during the working day and will usually be online using Microsoft Teams. 

Interactions about this role will be mostly via email, unless otherwise requested. If you do not have access to email and would like to be contacted via telephone, please let us know.

The closing date for expressions of interest is Sunday 21 December 2025.    

Informal interviews will take place on 12 – 14 January and 10- 12 February 2026.

Involvement payments

PSPs are able to claim an involvement fee of £75 per half day (four hours or less) or £150 per day (more than 4 hours) for their involvement.   Plus, individuals should not be out-of-pocket because of their involvement with NHS England, so all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses are reimbursed. You can choose to decline an involvement payment if you wish.

Involvement payments are classed as a form of income by HMRC and are subject to deductions at source including tax and National Insurance (depending on individual circumstances).   Involvement payments are made via payroll for tax purposes only, to ensure that NHS England makes payments in a tax compliant way in line with HMRC guidance. As a PSP you would not be an employee, worker or agent of NHS England.

Before accepting an offer of a role with an involvement payment you may wish to get independent financial advice. NHS England is not able to provide benefits advice (or any other financial advice) to PSPs. However, free confidential advice is available for people who are in receipt of benefits and are involved, or considering involvement, with NHS England. Please contact england.peopleandcommunities@nhs.net to make use of this service.

Exclusions

Please note, if you hold any of the following roles you cannot be a PSP at NHS England:

1. a chair or board member of an NHS body – including an NHS trust, NHS foundation trust and/or an integrated care board
2. an NHS England employee (including all staff, honorary or unpaid medical or dental posts). This applies even where the employed role is in a different area of the business.
3. a practising clinician – including practising GPs or general dental practitioners
4. a serving MP or local councillor or a candidate for election to such a post

Diversity, equality and inclusion

NHS England values and promotes diversity. To help us understand if we are achieving this, we ask you to fill out an anonymous diversity monitoring form as part of the expression of interest process.

Applicants who state that they have a disability on their Expression of interest form and who meet the role’s criteria will be offered an informal interview with the team. Please note: In certain situations such as high volumes of expressions of interest, we will only offer informal interviews with disabled applicants who best meet the role’s criteria rather than all of those who meet the criteria.

How to apply

You can either apply yourself, or someone can apply on your behalf (with your agreement), for example you can use an advocate, a personal assistant, or a support worker. Please only apply by answering the questions on the expression of interest form (please do not send a CV).  Your answers to the questions can be submitted as written responses by completing the word document, or by video, or audio-recording. Please let us know if you have problems with the form or if you need help to complete it by contacting patientsafetyenquiries@nhs.net.

We understand that filling in forms is not the most accessible way for some people to apply for roles. We do not want the expression of interest process to be a barrier to your involvement, so if you would like to apply for the role in a different way, for example by telephone, or have the information in another format please contact patientsafetyenquiries@nhs.net.

We will rely on the information you provide in the expression of interest form to assess whether you are a good fit for the role.

Applications need to include

To complete your expression of interest please complete the following:

1. Expression of interest form by word document, video, or audio-recording and send this to patientsafetyenquiries@nhs.net.
2. Diversity monitoring form

Process – once we receive your expression of interest

The steps will be as follows:

1. We will email you to acknowledge receipt of your expression of interest form (or contact you by telephone if preferred).
2. The closing date for expressions of interest is Sunday 21 December 2025.
3. Expressions of interest will be reviewed after the closing date by members of the national Patient Safety team and current Patient Safety Partners using the skills and experience criteria.
4. Applicants who match the skills and experience criteria well, based on the content of the expression of interest form, will be invited to have an informal interview with a group of two of the Patient Safety team staff and two PSPs.
5. Informal interviews will take place on 12 – 14 January and 10 – 12 February 2026.
6. The informal interviews will take place online using Microsoft Teams. This is an opportunity for you to share more information about your experience and expression of interest, as well as to ask questions about being a PSP. This is also our opportunity to ask you some specific questions about your skills and experience. You will be provided with these questions in advance so that you can prepare and practice your answers if you wish.
7. After your informal interview, the group will review your answers and identify those applicants who best match the criteria.
8. Please note that we may contact your personal referees before any potential role is confirmed.
9. We will contact all applicants about the outcome of your expression of interest by email, or by telephone if you prefer. All applicants will be offered feedback on their expressions of interest.

The National patient safety team

The NHS Patient Safety Strategy describes how the NHS will support staff and healthcare providers to share safety insight and empower people – patients and staff – with the skills, confidence and tools to improve safety.

NHS England’s National Patient Safety team supports the NHS to achieve the strategy’s aims through a series of programmes of work. Our work relates to the strategy’s foundations of ‘patient safety culture’ and ‘patient safety systems’, and the three strategic aims: ‘insight’, ‘involvement’ and ‘improvement’.

For an update on our progress so far please look at the NHS patient safety strategy progress update April 2025. Our Patient Safety Partners have been important contributors in all our programmes of work, some of which is described in our PSP Matters bulletin.

To hear what it is like to be a Patient Safety Partner please listen to our PSP’s podcasts:

• How patient safety partners have helped to shape the National Medical Examiner System 
• How patient safety partners have helped to shape Patient safety healthcare inequalities reduction 

National Patient Safety Partner Role

PSPs bring important views, perspective, and challenge into the team, which can help us to make healthcare services safer for patients. PSPs in the national patient safety team perform a different role than PSPs working directly within healthcare organisations such as your local hospital. As a National PSP, you will have an opportunity to contribute to a variety of NHS-wide tasks that match your interests, skills, and availability. Previous and current PSP tasks include:

• Ensuring that the groups such as the Martha’s Rule programme board, National Patient Safety Committee and Independent Investigations Committee consider service user, patient, carer and family perspective in all of their work
• Contributing to the design and content of our film “Simple steps to keep you safe during your hospital stay”
• Participating in interview panels for national Patient Safety team roles (staff and new PSPs).

All PSPs will need to comply with NHS England’s standards of conduct and respect the confidential nature of some discussions. The team will make it clear when a topic is confidential.

Desirable PSP skills and experience

Patient safety partners bring a wide range of personal and professional knowledge and experience, and we aim to ensure diverse perspectives are represented. The following skills and experience are not essential but will help new PSPs to be prepared for the core elements of the role from the start. During your role as a PSP, you will be supported to enable you to contribute to the best of your ability.

The key aims of the PSP role include:

• Making sure the views of the people and communities we serve are integral to our safety policy, planning and decision-making processes, by bringing the patient and carer voice into the task and asking how this will improve safety for patients and others.
• Making sure our safety policies, strategies and guidance are informed by people’s lived experiences and what they know works best works for them, by raising awareness of how these might impact people and communities differently.
• Making sure we recognise and include the diverse communities we serve, by advocating for a wide range of perspectives from your own lived experience and by sharing the experiences of others when relevant.

Knowledge

• Understanding of and broad interest in health care and patient safety, for example as a patient, service user, family member, carer or advocate.
• The importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in healthcare.

Skills

• Ability to communicate clearly verbally and in writing with a range of different people, including with senior professionals and leaders
• Ability to clearly and respectfully express views and experiences, as an advocate for patient safety
• Sound judgement and an ability to be objective
• Ability to read, understand and evaluate a range of information and evidence in English, such as Board reports, quantitative (numerical) data and research studies
• Able to speak up about their views, and where appropriate represent the views of others

Experience

• Interaction with people and groups with differing and sometimes challenging viewpoints
• Experience of working in partnership with professional and/or community organisations
• Experience of championing diversity and inclusion, challenging inequalities, or speaking up
• Lived experience of patient safety challenges and their impact
• Passionate about healthcare

Time commitment

• Your time commitment is flexible. Each task (projects, committees) will clearly state the estimated time commitment and frequency of meetings, and you will be involved in the tasks that interest you.
• The minimum time commitment is a half day per month, and as a general guideline your PSP role should average no more than 2 full days per month including all preparation time. 
• The tenure for a Patient Safety Partner in the national patient safety team is 4 years. PSPs working with other organisations are welcome to apply, though National PSPs can only hold a maximum of two other NHSE PPV roles at any one time.
• Meetings will usually take place online using Microsoft Teams.

Training and support

• There are a range of learning and development opportunities available to PSPs, which will include some patient safety and mandatory training.
• You will be expected to attend PSP development meetings, which are usually either hybrid or online, so that you can make connections with other PSPs, network and learn more about the work of the National patient safety team.
• You will receive an induction on the role of PSPs at NHSE, the National patient safety team and the work of NHSE and DHSC.
• There are a range of learning and development opportunities available to PSPs, and opportunities to connect with wider patient and public voice colleagues in NHS England.
• You will be offered one to one support via and assigned mentor and opportunities to collaborate with other PSPs and NHS staff.

IT and other support

• We can offer equipment support for PSPs who may need a laptop, internet data, or other IT equipment to do their role.
• NHS England has an Employee Assistance Programme which is available to anyone who works with or supports NHS England, including contractors and PSPs