NAO: Better public involvement needed at NHS

Patient and public involvement is one of the least well developed components
of clinical governance in
NHS
primary care trusts, according to a report by the
National Audit Office.

This is despite the Department of
Health’s NHS Reform agenda confirming it as one of the most important
priorities given the drive towards a patient-led NHS, the NAO said.

The NAO said a lack of patient and public involvement was one of the greatest
risks to progress in improving quality and safety after it found that patients
and carers reported feeling excluded from aspects of patients’ care.

In its report, the watchdog recommended that the Department of Health should
explicitly address quality as a requirement in developing its guidance for PCT
commissioning.

Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said: ‘Good clinical governance is essential
if patients and the public are to have greater confidence in the NHS.

‘Whilst Primary Care Trusts have made good progress in getting structures and
processes in place, there has been less progress in actually implementing the
fundamental components of clinical governance, particularly patient and public
involvement,’ he added.

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