Patient and Public Engagement Strategy to 2030

Patient and public involvement

Introduction

This strategy sets out our goals and priorities for patient and public engagement until 2030. It has been created to support the delivery of the whole Trust strategy Better, faster, fairer healthcare for all

Our 4 goals for patient and public engagement will help all teams and departments across our hospitals and community services to work with patients, their parents, carers and communities to deliver the Trust strategy.

How we developed our patient and public engagement strategy

This strategy has been developed by the Trust Patient and Public Engagement (PPE) team, together with:

  • patient and public Trust governors
  • clinical and non-clinical Trust staff
  • local healthwatch bodies
  • South East London Integrated Care Board

While developing the Trust strategy we asked patients, carers and communities to tell us what was most important to them. To highlight what patients told us matters most, we have included their priorities throughout the strategy to show how they fit with our goals.

Why patient and public engagement is so important to us

Patient and public engagement means working with patients (children, young people and adults), their families, carers, and communities who need and use our services to make sure their views are included in our decisions. This is an important part of living our Trust values.

As an NHS organisation, we also have legal duties to involve patients and the public in our work.

Most importantly, we believe that we need to truly listen to and work with people and communities, to make sure our services and buildings continue to meet the needs of those who use them.

Patient and public engagement helps us make sure that marginalised communities (people who are not always included or treated fairly) have a say.

It is a privilege when people share their care experiences with us. Patients, carers, families and communities inspire us. Their stories, help us to design and transform care, deliver ground-breaking research and make a meaningful difference to people's experience of using our services.

Our goals for involvement

Goal 1: Build a culture of involvement

We will make patient and public involvement everyone's business by increasing staff awareness, understanding and skills. We will build strong relationships and trust with the communities we serve by ensuring that meaningful involvement is central to the way we design, develop and improve our services.

Goal 2: Act on what matters most to patients, carers and communities

We will ensure that patient and carer voices drive the improvement, transformation and development of our services. We will support the delivery of patient-led care by prioritising involvement activity and resources on the areas that patients, carers and communities care about most.

Goal 3: Promote health equity through meaningful involvement

We will identify and challenge health inequalities, and the barriers to accessing services by involving our diverse patients, carers, and communities. We will ensure people who are often under-represented are involved in planning, innovating, and improving our services and research.

Goal 4: Work in partnership with people, communities and our health and care partners

We will strengthen our partnerships with patients, carers and communities who need 
and use our services. We will harness our dynamic local and national health and care 
partnerships, using every opportunity to align our involvement plans, share learning, good 
practice and impact.

Putting our patient and public engagement strategy into action

Delivering our goals

We will work closely with patients, staff, and partners to put this strategy into action. Our 4 clinical groups and all Trust departments will make sure the goals and priorities for patient and public involvement are part of their plans.

It is not always easy to measure the impact of patient and public engagement and understand what has changed because people were involved. We will work with teams across the Trust to gather information about the different ways that people have been involved and the changes that have been made when patients, families and carers have been involved.

The Trust Board will review our progress on patient and public engagement every year. We may update our engagement priorities to make sure they continue to focus on what matters most to patients, families, and communities.

Is this page useful?