Participation Standard
Background
In December 2007, the 
Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan was published by the Scottish Government, setting out an ambitious programme of work for NHSScotland over the next five years. A central theme was to develop a 'mutual NHS' which requires new ways of thinking about health and health care:
"We need to move, over time, to a more inclusive relationship with the Scottish people; a relationship where patients and the public are affirmed as partners rather than recipients of care. We need to move towards an NHS that is truly publicly owned... where ownership and accountability is shared with the Scottish people and the staff of the NHS... where we think of the people of Scotland not just as consumers – with only rights – but as owners – with both rights and responsibilities."
This commitment to a mutual NHS included specific actions, one of which was the development of a Participation Standard.
A Participation Standard
The assessment of Patient Focus and Public Involvement is an evolving process. Currently, NHS Boards produce an annual self assessment, in partnership with local communities and stakeholders, which is endorsed by the Scottish Health Council. However, this approach does not enable the collection of systematic, comparable information across NHSScotland – the Participation Standard will achieve this.
The format of the Participation Standard is similar to NHS Quality Improvement Scotland's existing Clinical Governance and Risk Management (CGRM) standards, which are familiar to NHS staff and other stakeholders. Progress against the Standard will be measured using a Continuous Quality Improvement scale based on four levels of achievement:
- Developing
- Implementing
- Evaluating
- Improving
Following a period of consultation, which concluded on 15 August 2009, the criteria for the Standard were approved by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. The comments and feedback received during the consultation are available in a summary of comments 
.
Further work is currently ongoing to develop a framework against which each health system will deliver a self assessment from April 2010. In February 2010, we sought the views of NHS staff, Public Partnership Forum members and others on the self assessment framework; the potential area of focus for the first round of assessment; and the review process which could be adopted by the Scottish Health Council.
Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment
An Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment of the Participation Standard has taken place to check that it meets the needs of equalities groups and supports their participation in NHS planning and service development.
Your comments
If you have any comments or questions about the Participation Standard please contact:
Jacki Smart
Head of Operations
Scottish Health Council
Delta House
50 West Nile Street
Glasgow
G1 2NP
Telephone: 0141 225 5558
Email: jacki.smart@scottishhealthcouncil.org