ESSEX PATIENT & PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN HEALTH ACTION DAY Jenny Fisher PPI Involvement Manager Essex SHA & Anita Millar PPI & PAL Manager Harlow PCT

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day On 14 th May over 150 delegates,including representatives of patient groups, the voluntary sector, local authorities and health organisations attended a seminar to talk about the challenges of patient and public involvement. We also discussed how to roll out locally the challenges that faced us head.

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day We learnt about ‘meaningful involvement’ and challenged each other about how we want to be treated as whole people with whole lives- who want to be involved We asked each other ‘we are involved – the real question is, how involving is healthcare?

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day We covered five themes at our workshop sessions; 1.Equity and Social Inclusion 2.Governance & Decision-Making 3.Investment, Planning & Modernisation 4.Day-to-day Service Experience 5.Complaints

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day Dr Jeff Phillips spoke on Discovery Interviews, which give an opportunity for patients and their carers to tell the story of their illness or condition. The interviews are shared with clinical teams and form a central part of improving the service for patients.

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day Prof Roger Dyson- Chairman of the Essex Overview & Scrutiny Forum, described the the drive for patient and public involvement as “revolution” for the NHS

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day And the people said – We can’t just leave it all to the GP or the Health Authority. People must take responsibility for their own health a lot more than they have in the past

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day Improvements in health services can most certainly be made if we listen and learn from patients who are experts in their own condition.

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day We realised that we are all ‘doing’ PPI but that we need to address that we are doing it correctly and meaningfully for the public and not just a tick box operation. We also identified the budgetary constraints to make PPI really happen.

Essex Patient & Public Involvement in Health Action Day How do we take this day forward? What steps can we take to ensure that true PPI happens? How do we disseminate one good day’s work throughout our organisations and networks?