Patients as partners

This publication from the UK’s King’s Fund looked at how patients can be partners in their healthcare and the healthcare system. The author examined the question of what helps to build collaborative relationships among health and care professionals, patients, service users, carers and communities.

The report suggests five approaches to developing an effective relationship: 

• find your collaborative partner(s)
• invest in developing leadership and collaborative relationships
• make time for learning and share that learning
• go where the energy is
• embed collaborative activity at all levels in your system or organisation.

Patients as partners: Building collaborativerelationships among professionals, patients, carers and communities/ Seale B. London: The King's Fund; 2016.