By Caroline Walsh, Senior Public Health Officer, National Screening Service
We’ve developed new learning and educational resources to support our Patient and Public Partnership (PPP). The resources aim to support patients and the public to play a meaningful and active role in our work and to support our staff when working with PPP representatives on projects and committees.
The learning and educational resources were co-designed with PPP representatives and include:
- E-learning module: an induction resource for new PPP representatives and NSS staff which provides an overview of the PPP, why it’s important, the role of representatives and levels of involvement.
- Chairperson guide: provides practical tips, checklists and advice for our staff working on projects and committees with PPP representatives.
- Guide to technical language and terms: supports PPP representatives to understand technical terms and language used by us in our work.
Since 2019, our PPP project team, representatives and staff have been working together to implement our Patient and Public Partnership Strategy 2019-2023. We’ve embedded the PPP into our business and operations. This ensures that patients and members of the public are involved in our decision-making processes and helps us to deliver person-centred care that meets the needs of our screening participants. We published a progress report on this work in 2022.
We launched a recruitment campaign in 2023 using video testimonials with PPP representatives to encourage new members to join. We continue to actively look for new volunteers to become involved. We want our PPP to be representative of the people living in Ireland and we welcome people from different backgrounds, with different perspectives and experiences.
In 2023, our PPP representatives worked with us on a variety of projects and committees:
- CervicalCheck self-sampling project
- BreastCheck Patient Reported Experience Measures survey
- Personal Cervical Screening Reviews
- Quality Assurance committees
- Quality, Safety and Risk committee
- Equity oversight committee
Our PPP joined us for two events in January and October 2023. The workshops focused on capturing and learning from patient experiences to continually improve our screening services.
Our PPP is now a fully established part of our processes within our Communications, Engagement and Information Development operations. This work is a priority in our 5-year strategy, Choose Screening – Together we can make a difference. New governance structures have been established and a PPP committee will meet for the first time in January 2024. The committee will report directly to our Chief Executive Fiona Murphy.
We’re currently finalising an evaluation of PPP strategy’s implementation and we’ll publish a report in early 2024.
To learn more about our PPP or to get involved, email ppplead@screeningservice.ie