Why get involved?

Patient and public participation is important because it helps us to improve all aspects of health care, including patient safety, patient experience and health outcomes – giving people the power to live healthier lives.

Participation, by the people who use and care about NHS services, enables us to understand and respond to their needs; including those people who have the poorest health. This helps us to improve access to services and reduce differences in health in different communities. It allows us to see things through the eyes of those who use services and to be innovative, leading to better use of taxpayers’ money.

This short film has been produced to tell patients and the public about NHS England’s work and and why patients and the public might want to get involved. It has been co-produced with people with a learning disability.

You can find out more about why getting involved is important to patients and the public, NHS Staff and NHS England by clicking on the links to the left. These sections feature patient feedback, stories and examples of why participation is important.

The participation in practice section also includes some good practices examples of patient and public participation in healthcare and how it can change things for the better.