Participation Standard

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Participation Standard Self-Assessment Framework Guidance notes for Boards Supplementary guidance notes

Information for the Public

Public information leaflet Public information leaflet (Arabic) (العربية) Public information leaflet (Traditional Chinese) (中文)

Background

Developing the Standard Update letter to NHS Boards (20 August 2010) Update letter to NHS Boards (17 June 2010) Update letter to NHS Boards (31 March 2010) Report on public involvement in developing the Standard

The Participation Standard builds on an agenda that has been developing over a number of years. To reflect the importance of participation, duties of public involvement and equal opportunities were placed on NHS Boards in the NHS Reform (Scotland) Act 2004. The Scottish Health Council was established in 2005 to ensure that NHS Boards deliver their participation (or Patient Focus and Public Involvement) responsibilities.

Formerly, NHS Boards produced an annual self assessment, in partnership with local communities and stakeholders, which was endorsed by the Scottish Health Council. From 2010-2011, Boards self-assess against the Participation Standard which will allow this to be done in a more systematic and comparable way.

The Standard covers three aspects of participation:

• Patient Focus - care and services are provided in partnership with patients, treating individuals with dignity and respect, and are responsive to age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and transgender status.
• Public Involvement - there is supported and effective involvement of people in service planning and improvement.
• Governance - robust corporate governance arrangements are in place for involving people, founded on mutuality, equality, diversity and human rights principles.

The format of the Participation Standard is similar to Healthcare Improvement Scotland's existing clinical standard documents, which are familiar to NHS staff and other stakeholders. Progress against the Standard is measured using a Continuous Quality Improvement scale based on four levels of achievement:

• Developing
• Implementing
• Evaluating
• Improving

More information about the content and format of the Standard can be found in a letter to NHS Boards sent by Richard Norris, Director of the Scottish Health Council, on 31 March 2010.

August 2011 update

Feedback received on the 2010-2011 self-assessment process demonstrates that the principles of the Participation Standard were widely supported and all stakeholders were keen to maintain the existing aims of the Standard.

However, there was a real desire to move towards an outcome-focused approach and to align the model with a new Healthcare Scrutiny Model currently being developed by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and due to be launched in April 2012. The Scottish Health Council is currently working with colleagues across Healthcare Improvement Scotland to ensure that this happens.

NHS Boards will be advised that there will be no formal assessment by the Scottish Health Council for 2011-2012 and the focus should be on using the findings from their self assessments, as well as feedback from the Scottish Health Council Performance Review Team, to develop improvement plans towards outcomes across the three sections of the Standard.

Boards will then be asked to produce a short report, making reference to these outcomes by 31 March 2012 and the reports will be used to inform Boards’ Annual Reviews in 2012.

Your comments

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