A new document commissioned by The College Board of Trustees Patient Public and Practitioner Partnerships within Imaging and Radiotherapy: Guiding Principles, is intended to look beyond patient centred care and bring patients into the heart of the decision-making processes in service delivery, service development, education
and research.
The document is intended to look beyond patient centred care and bring patients into the heart of the decision-making processes in service delivery, service development, education and research.
The ‘patient voice’ is a central feature of the 2018-20 Strategy of the Society and College of Radiographers. Strategic priorities will “Ensure the Patient Voice is Integral” and “Be Informed by the Voice of the Patient”.
The principles in the document fully embrace the criteria (PE1-PE5) of the Patient Experience Domain and FR5 Facilities, Resources and Workforce Domain in the Imaging Services Accreditation Scheme (ISAS) Standard2.
They will support the radiographic workforce to achieve the objectives of the NHS Five Year Forward View3 by providing a point of reference for patient, public and practitioner partnership across the four domains of practice.
Dr Leslie Robinson, who led the group which created the document, said, “The NHS Five Year Forward View lays out its vision for a shift in power to patients and the public. One of the great strengths of the UK is that we have an NHS that, at its best, is of the people, by the people and for the people. We need to engage with communities and citizens in new ways, involving them directly in decisions about the future of health care services.”
The document was written on the basis that patient experiences should be valued as a means of informing the way we practice radiography. The ‘patient voice’ is also a central feature of the Society’s 2018-20 Strategy. To support this the SCoR Patient, Public and Practitioner Partnership (PPPP) Group was developed.
The group met from February to July 2018 and comprised 11 members; an enthusiastic partnership of patients, public and radiographers supported by the SCoR professional and education manager and a professional officer. The remit was to develop a guidance document which would ensure the patient’s voice would be central throughout College and Society business and throughout the practices of radiography.
Patient, Public and Practitioner Partnerships in Radiography: Guiding Principles is intended for use by all those with a stake in the quality of radiography practice. It is written in the patient voice and sets out core values related to the four domains of practice: service delivery, service development, education, and research.
It uses authentic patient stories to illustrate the importance of each of the core values from the patient perspective. Each section also provides guidance notes and useful links to help radiographers develop their partnerships with patients and the public.
Philip Plant, chair of the SCoR Patient and Public Liaison Group (PPLG) and a member of the working party which developed the guidance document said, “Completing the publication under the PPPP umbrella was the end of something of a personal landmark. Endeavouring to put the patient voice firmly at the centre of College strategy and ensuring that it was not part of a tick-box exercise had been a personal long-term goal.”
Sandie Mathers, the chair of the College of Radiographers Board of Trustees (CBoT) said that “‘Wow!’ is seldom heard when a report or guidance is presented to the trustees for approval, but it was when this document was presented at the September meeting.”
Philip commented, “I am delighted that that the College Board of Trustees have given the document their approval. Now the hard work begins to ensure all the recommendations are acted upon, which is the responsibility of the PPLG.”
The guidance is innovative in its presentation and sits perfectly within our strategic priority of being informed by the voice of the patient. In fact, it is the voice of the patient you hear all through the document. It is also a resource which will be very useful for all radiographers across all areas of profession. The scope is multi professional and it will be useful at Journal Clubs and staff meetings because it is pertinent to all healthcare professionals at all grades.
It is essential we engage with our patients. We all believe we provide an excellent service to our patients but they are the ones who use our services and no one knows more than they how our processes and services really work. We may not always hear what we want to hear, but we as professionals need to find ways for us to deal with this and initiate change.
The College Board of Trustees would like to give a very big thank you to Dr Leslie Robinson and her team for all their hard work and enthusiasm in producing their report. Leslie worked tirelessly to ensure the quality, style and timeliness of the project.