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Doctors, nurses and other health professionals practice and support shared decision making. But, as our latest reports lays out, there are many obstacles preventing them for working this way with patients on a daily basis. Read more
But workforce crisis prevents patients from participating fully in decisions about their care Read more
When patients and doctors work together to decide treatment options, this is shared decision making. Working in this way provides benefits to patients and the health service. As an organisation, we would like to get more patients and doctors to use shared decision making because it is a good way of delivering care that meets the needs of patients.
Over the last few years we have worked to promote shared decision making. On this page you’ll find the reports and tools we’ve written or made available that support the wider use of shared decision making.
For us, shared decision making is a priority. We will build on the work we’ve done so far to ensure more and more patients or carers and healthcare professionals are practising shared decision making.
We hope you find our work interesting. If you have any questions or feedback please email [email protected]
You have the right to be involved in making choices about your medical treatment, the medicines you take and any operations you have. Read more
Our report finds shared decision making provides benefits to patients and the health service. But patients, and the professionals, face many barriers in making it work in practice. We make several recommendations on how to make shared decision making a reality. Read more
If you have you been asked to switch to a new biosimilar medicine, we have worked with patients, clinicians and pharmacists to create resources to help you decide what’s best for you. There are also resources for healthcare professionals to better engage patients in making decisions about whether to swtich. These resources are about ensuring patients have the information they need to make the best and most informed decision, and aiding professionals to support decisions. Read more
The Patients Association Nutrition Checklist is a simple tool to help raise awareness and identify the potential risk of undernutrition by encouraging conversations with those who make be at risk. It also offers guidance on next steps, if someone is at risk. There are versions for patients and professionals. Read more
If you are considering private care, maybe for the first time, we have worked with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network to create information to help you understand how to access and pay for private healthcare. Read more
Adnan cares for his disabled adult son; as part of our work with the General Medical Council to support great use of shared decision making, Adnan shares his tips on getting the most out of a consultation. Read more
Joanne lives with multiple chronic health conditions. Her experience of shared decision making has varied. Read her story. Read more
We've worked with the General Medical Council to share patients' experience of shared decision making more widely. Alan's story is about his experience as a patient and a carer. Read more
Our lived experience advisory panel, Patient Voices Panel, has brought together 10 patients from different backgrounds who meet to learn and discuss their experiences of healthcare. The panel is run as under Deep Democracy principles. In this article, we explain how Deep Democracy supports patient partnership and shared decision making. Read more
Our event in November brought together NICE, NHS England & Improvement, and the Winton Centre for Risk & Evidence Communication, as well as patient carers, to discuss how to make shared decision making a reality for everyone. The panel looked at NICE's recently published guideline on shared decision making and the recommendations we made in our report. If you missed, it you can watch a video of the event and download the panel's slides. Read more