To inform its work, the Inquiry panel commissioned a research project from Picker Institute Europe to examine the role of patient engagement and involvement in the quality and development of general practice services. The quality of patient engagement and involvement in primary care (1.1mb) explores how to improve and measure the quality of the engagement process, and reviews good practice examples of patient involvement. The paper’s authors are Suzanne Parsons, Anna Winterbottom, Peter Cross and Don Redding.

Read the research paper (1101 kb) and leave your comments below.

In February 2010 the Inquiry held a seminar on patient engagement and involvement with participants including GPs, practice nurses, NHS executives, health academics and patient representatives.

Key issues raised in discussion include:

• Whether the power relationships between doctors and patients must shift for real engagement and involvement to take place.
• The need for GPs to ‘reach out’ to less accessible populations and make them part of the engagement and involvement process.
• The role of Local Medical Committees (LMCs) and Local Involvement Networks (LINks) in encouraging general practice to be more engaged and involved.

We’d like to get your views on how important you think patient engagement and involvement are to good-quality care in general practice. What do you feel about the key issues that have been raised as a result of the work we have commissioned? Should engagement and involvement be a priority? And do you think there are key points that have been overlooked in the debate? Your comments will help to inform the Inquiry’s final report.

Please share your views with us, and others, by leaving a comment below. However, if you’d prefer to comment privately please email gpinquiry@kingsfund.org.uk