At the Patients Association we want to ensure patients, their families and carers are represented and heard from at all stages of their treatment. We are focussed on patient partnership. And we have developed a model of working with NHS Trusts, GP practices and other health and social care organisations, including universities and colleges to assist with patient involvement.

One aspect of patient partnership that we like to promote is Patient Participation Groups.

Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) are generally made up of a group of volunteer patients, the practice manager and one or more of the GPs from a practice. PPGs meet on a regular basis to discuss the services on offer, and how improvements can be made for the benefit of patients and the practice.

The beauty of PPGs is that there is no set way in which they work - the aims and work of each group entirely depends on local needs - but they all have the aim of making sure that their practice puts the patient, and improving health, at the heart of everything it does.

We have been working with PPGs in Hertfordshire and West Essex to diversify the people engaging with practices and reinvigorating PPGs following the pandemic. On our website we have a range of training videos and resources to get ideas and inspiration for your PPG. One of the insights from this project is that patients didn’t really understand the term PPG, so the project team use GP Practice Patient Group instead.

Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System have created the following PPG videos that you can find on our website:

• Reasons for a patient group and what’s in it for the GP practice and patients
• A guide to establishing a GP practice patient group
• Recruitment, increasing diversity and communicating with the wider patient population
• Effectively working together in partnership
• Making better use of social media and how to set up a Facebook group

The Patients Association also created our own toolkit and range of videos to help you set up a PPG. You can find all this information on patient participation groups here.