Workforce

2023 - Position statement on new health professions providing services to patients
We believe every healthcare professional should receive appropriate supervision, maintain high standards of care and roles must be clearly defined and communicated to avoid any confusion or overlap with other healthcare professionals.

2023 - Position statement - NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
We welcome the long awaited NHS Long Term Workforce Plan as genuinely ambitious and an important milestone for both staff and patients. The plan will be successful if it results in the expansion of safe, effective and compassionate care and it leads to more patients being partners in their own care and in the design and delivery of the services they use.

2022 - Position statement - Safe staffing
Safe staffing refers to having enough members of staff with the values and skills to deliver high quality care to patients. Safe staffing is a system wide issue. A trained, competent, and supported workforce with sufficient numbers to deliver high quality patient centred care is an essential component of patient safety. Without an adequate workforce, patient care and safety are compromised. This position statement outlines the views of the Patients Association on safe staffing.

2022 - Consultation response - GMC Good medical practice
The General Medical Council consulted on its core guidance on professional standards, Good medical practice. It sets out the standards of care and professional behaviour expected of all medical professionals registered with the GMC. This was the first up date in a decade to the standards. In our response, we welcome the focus on kind, compassionate care for patients.

2021 - Consultation response - Review of professional regulators
We were invited to complete this questionnaire as part of the ongoing review of professional regulation.

2021 - Consultation response - Regulating healthcare professionals
Responding to proposals to reform how healthcare professionals are regulatied, we argue for stronger involvement of patients in many of the key processes.

2021 - Consultation response - PSA accredited registers
In this response, we give patients' views on how accredited, voluntary registers for healthcare professionals can be valuable, and also how they can be improved.

Latest

Prioritising patient experience: Other than experiences of waiting, we measure but we don’t act

Patients Association Trustee Alf Collins and Richard Sloggett, Freelance Health Consultant and Programme Director at Future Health Research, make a simple plea: that all aspects of patient experience – not just their experience of accessing services – is taken seriously.
Supporting patient engagement and revitalising Patient Participation Groups

We have completed an exciting initiative in partnership with the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) to support patient engagement and revitalise Patient Participation Groups post pandemic.
New project focuses on improving health equity

Bristol Myers Squibb awards the Patients Association grant to research how to improve access to healthcare for patients affected by health inequalities.
The Untold Patient Stories: Shedding the light on the realities of life with a long-term condition

The Patients Association is running a webinar following the publication of Future Health’s recent report: The Forgotten Majority. This important campaign aims to raise awareness among policy representatives from Government and other political parties, as well as other key stakeholders, about the real life every day challenges faced by people with long-term health conditions and advocate for meaningful policy change as we approach the General Election.

New project focuses on improving health equity

Bristol Myers Squibb awards the Patients Association grant to research how to improve access to healthcare for patients affected by health inequalities.
Patients Association response to the British Social Attitudes survey

The results from this year’s measure of public attitudes are concerning but come as no surprise to us. Patients are in despair over the state of healthcare.
Martha's Rule - a major step for patient partnership

The Government has confirmed Martha's Rule will be introduced in 100 NHS sites across England beginning in April 2024.
The Patients Association launches general election manifesto

The next Government must ensure people are able to get the care they need. Reversing the normalisation of the crisis the NHS faces and rebuilding the service's relationship with patients must be addressed. Our manifesto spells out how to make that happen.
NHS England’s primary care recovery plan responds to Patient Association concerns

Publication of the primary care recovery plan is a milestone in the NHS’s post pandemic recovery. Crucially for patients, much of the plan is about their experience of primary care, and how that can be improved.
Delaying a workforce plan any longer is a failure of both patients and the staff

Failure to announce a long-term workforce plan for the NHS undermines NHS recovery and patient care. Read our statement in response to the Budget.
Research shows patients want more control over how their health data are shared

More than a million people opted out of sharing their GP data when NHS Digital announced its GP Data for Research and Planning programme in 2021. This report explors why patients were so concerned and what should be done to improve confidence.
Letter to the Secretary of State

On 6th January our Chief Executive Rachel Power, and Sir Robert Francis KC, wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care asking him to declare and national incident in the NHS. Here is the text of the letter.
CQC State of Care report shows deteriorating experience for many patients

The Care Quality Commission’s annual assessment of the state of health and social care in England shows the health and care system is gridlocked and unable to operate effectively.
Patients ability to work with health professionals undermined by current crisis

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.

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