By Caroline Walsh, Public Health Officer, National Screening Service
Our Patient & Public Partnership Strategy
In the NSS, we work in partnership with patients in a variety of ways called Patient and Public Partnership; we refer to it as the ‘PPP’. In 2019, we published our first PPP Strategy which set the vision for our partnership work up to the end of 2023. To find out more about our strategy, please click here
Our strategy exists to ensure we work in partnership with patients and public, involving them in decision making and making sure we are working towards providing person-centred care. We know that working with patients and public brings a wider perspective that helps guide how we design, deliver and evaluate our screening services to meet the needs of the people using them.
What has been achieved so far and what developments are in the pipeline...
Our Progress Report looks back at the actions and projects completed over the past two years since our strategy was launched.
Some work the report covers includes:
- PPP Implementation Group: Our PPP Implementation Group was set up in March 2021 to help implement our strategy. The group is made up of PPP partners and NSS partners. They meet regularly and are working together to co-design how PPP should be structured within NSS.
- NSS Projects: PPP representatives provide the patient voice to a variety of NSS projects, working groups and committees through different levels of involvement. An example is the CervicalCheck Interval Cancer Implementation Group. This group has two PPP representatives who attend regular meetings and their views and perspectives are important in ensuring decision making is patient centred and transparent. To find out more about this project, please read the Interval Cancer Year 1 report here
- Information Hub: We have projects focusing on improving how we create and share information with screening participants, public and other healthcare providers. We are trialling a new ‘Information Hub’ to help ensure that information resources such as leaflets and letters are accessible and understandable to all audiences and they will enable people to make informed decisions about engaging in screening services
A PPP rep’s experience of working with the NSS
“I’ve learned that patient involvement within the NSS is, in fact, gratefully received and respected. I see the value in the time that I, and all the other patient reps, provide is having some really positive effects. The partnership of patients and those working within the NSS is not only necessary, it’s crucial. Implementing this strategy will make that working relationship stronger.” Grace, PPP representative
Our Next Steps
Thanks to all of our reps and staff we have made good progress over the past two years.
We are proud to see the changes PPP has brought to NSS and we look forward to working with our PPP reps and our staff as we continue to implement the strategy and to improve NSS services for the people who use them.
Get involved
If you would like more information on our Patient and Public Partnership or on how to get involved, please email: ppplead@screeningservice.ie