The NHS Centre forInvolvement supports andencourages the NHS andother organisations toinvolve patients and thepublic in health and socialcare decision-making.

Who do we work with?

The Centre works directly withall parts of the NHS ranging fromStrategic Health Authorities toPrimary Care Trusts and otherhealthcare focused organisationssuch as Diabetes UK.

What do we do?

We engage with organisationsin order to create, encourageand support a healthcare culturethat involves individuals andcommunities on many levels.Along with this, we provide thetools and communication channelsto support Patient and PublicInvolvement (PPI). For example, wemake information available throughtargeted networks, newslettersand our website which has over3500 registered users.

What is theNHS Centre forInvolvement?

What isinvolvement?Patient and PublicInvolvement (PPI)gives individualsand communitiesthe opportunityand influenceto shape healthand social careservices.

Who are we?Based within the University of Warwick, theNHS Centre for Involvement is a consortium madeup of the Centre for Public Scrutiny, the Long-TermConditions Alliance, and the University of Warwickand is funded by the Department of Health.

How do I find out more?To find out more about the Centre, our areas ofactivity and our current work including our networks,visit our website:www.nhscentreforinvolvement.nhs.uk

To find out more about PPI visit the Department ofHealth website at:www.dh.gov.uk/patientpublicinvolvement

How do I contact you?7 Vanguard CentreUniversity of WarwickCoventryCV4 7ALTel: 024 7615 0266

Email: nhscentreforinvolvement@warwick.ac.ukWeb: www.nhscentreforinvolvement.nhs.uk

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The Department of Health and the NHS in general aremoving towards a culture of regularly involving andconsulting patients and the public in decision-makingand service improvement.

The NHS Centre for Involvement helps to support thedevelopment of an ‘involvement culture’ in health andsocial care settings. We are committed to embeddingPatient and Public Involvement (PPI) into everydaypractice within health and social care organisations.

The Centre acts as the core organisation forpromoting the involvement agenda.

Understanding the experiences of patients and thepublic is important to helping organisations workmore effectively to evaluate and improve services.People should have the opportunity to be activelyinvolved in shaping the organisation and the deliveryof health and social care services for their communities.Changes that are made to the delivery of servicesshould be based on their experiences and views.

To achieve this, the Centre works towards a culturechange within the health and social care structure whichresults in greater involvement for individuals andcommunities.

How do we do this?We do this by:

• Identifying and sharing good practice locally, nationallyand internationally – for example we provide a series ofcase studies that demonstrate achievements in a widevariety of successful PPI projects from variousorganisations

• Working directly with voluntary sector organisations inorder to involve hard to reach groups

• Hosting our annual conference and awards whichshowcase excellent work in PPI

What are we working on?The NHS Centre for Involvement has developed the‘Key Principles of Effective Patient and PublicInvolvement’ to help demonstrate how NHS organisationscan improve their involvement of patients and the public.

The main areas of the Centre’s work are:

Organisational Development

We are committed to working with a number ofNHS organisations each year to support a review of PPI.Each review includes a service improvement projectfocused on a specific area of involvement.

What is our purpose? This process has been successful for all of theorganisations that we have worked with. We havehelped to increase awareness of the importance ofinvolvement at Board level by working directly withthese organisations.

Learning

One of our visions is to identify the skills andknowledge needed to support excellent involvement.We have mapped current learning and developmentopportunities, so we can match supply with demand.To capture this work, we have begun a collection of‘learning samples’ to signpost individuals who areinterested in increasing their knowledge of theinvolvement agenda. We are developing useful toolsand resources to support both staff and organisationsto carry out better involvement.

In partnership with the University of Warwick MedicalSchool, the Centre has developed a ‘Patient and PublicInvolvement in Healthcare’ module. It is designed tomeet the learning needs of healthcare professionalsin the NHS, the private health sector or the voluntarysector.

Networking and partnerships

We offer online networking opportunities in orderto promote the sharing of resources, information andideas through the use of forums, blogs, news and acalendar of events. Case studies submitted by usersare available along with other resources. As part ofthis work we also run events for users to meet faceto face and create partnerships for future work. Our‘People Bank Partners’ are involved in all of our activities.

Evidence for Practice

We are contributing to the development of anevidence base to inform the work of the Centre.The focus on Local Involvement Networks (LINks)and World Class Commissioning is integral to all ofour work; this helps to establish our involvementagenda in the changing culture.

We generate evidence-based tools, guidancedocuments, case studies, fact sheets and otherresources that support PPI practice. Currently,our work focuses on three areas:

• Knowledge and evidence for PPI – buildingan evidence base around PPI to identify effectivepractice

• Knowledge transfer – identifying how peoplelearn about PPI and how PPI evidence is used inpractice

• Contextual issues around PPI – understandingthe context in which PPI operates includingorganisational and cultural issues

Local Involvement Networks (LINks)

To support the implementation of LINks, the Centre isworking directly with the Department of Health as thenational lead agency for the support of LINks. As partof this work, we are producing a set of guides thatcontain simple and useful information. Several ofthese guides have been published on our website.The topics for future guides are determined from theinformation that is requested directly by individualscontacting us. We also manage the LINks exchange –a networking website established specifically for LINks.

The NHS Centre for Involvement will give you the tools to turn Patient and Public Involvement into everyday practice

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