Engaging & Involving Patients & The Public

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales Bevan House Caerphilly Business Park Van Road Caerphilly CF83 3ED

Tel: 02920 928850 Fax: 02920 928877 Web: www.hiw.org.uk

This document is also published on HIW’s website www.hiw.org.uk

Other formats of this document are available on request.

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ABOUT HEALTHCARE INSPECTORATE WALES (HIW) Healthcare Inspectorate Wales is the independent inspectorate and regulator of all healthcare in Wales. HIW’s primary focus is on:

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Making a significant contribution to improving the safety and quality of healthcare services in Wales.

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Improving citizens’ experience of healthcare in Wales whether as a patient, service user, carer, relative or employee.

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Strengthening the voice of patients and the public in the way health services are reviewed.

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Ensuring that timely, useful, accessible and relevant information about the safety and quality of healthcare in Wales is made available to all.

HIW’s core role is to review and inspect NHS and independent healthcare organisations and services in Wales against a range of published standards, policies, guidance and regulations to provide independent assurance about their safety and quality for patients, the public, the Welsh Assembly Government and healthcare providers. As part of this work HIW will also seek to highlight areas requiring improvement. If necessary, HIW will also undertake special reviews and investigations where there appears to be systemic failures in delivering healthcare services to ensure that improvement and learning takes place.

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In addition, HIW is the regulator of independent healthcare providers in Wales, the Local Supervising Authority for the Statutory Supervision of Midwives and is responsible for monitoring approved nurse education programmes provided by higher education institutions in Wales.

HIW carries out its functions on behalf of Welsh Ministers and, although part of the Welsh Assembly Government, protocols have been established to safeguard its operational autonomy. HIW’s main functions and responsibilities are drawn from the following legislation:

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Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003.

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Care Standards Act 2000 and associated regulations.

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Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Health Act 2007.

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Statutory Supervision of Midwives as set out in Articles 42 and 43 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001.

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Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2000 and Amendment Regulations 2006.

HIW works closely with other inspectorates and regulators in carrying out cross sector reviews in social care, education and criminal justice and in developing more proportionate and coordinated approaches to the review and regulation of Healthcare in Wales.

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In carrying out our functions, we are committed to the following key values:

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Independence: reaching our own conclusions and communicating what we find.

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Openness and transparency: promoting an understanding of our work; explaining the rationale for our recommendations and conclusions; communicating in language and formats that are easily accessible.

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Public and patient focus: promoting a patient-focused NHS that is responsive to the views of the public; recognising the needs, opinions and beliefs of individuals and organisations, and respecting and encouraging diversity.

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Improvement and learning: working with and supporting NHS staff in improving the quality and safety of healthcare; promoting excellence in the delivery of healthcare and service design; encouraging continuous improvement in our own approaches to review and corporate processes.

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Partnership: involving patients, carers and the public in all parts of our work; collaborating with other organisations such as external review bodies, other statutory agencies and voluntary organisations to avoid any duplication of effort.

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PRINCIPLES OF PATIENT FOCUS AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) involves patients, service users and the public in its work in order to:

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Inspect, review and investigate the quality of health services in Wales by ensuring that these are sensitive to people’s needs and preferences.

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Promote openness and transparency by enabling the public to participate in reviewing the quality of the NHS.

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Learn from the experiences of patients and carers and gain an improved understanding of their needs and preferences.

Public involvement is recognised in the values that underpin HIW’s work. In the context of HIW‘s activities, the ‘public’ can be described in five overlapping groups. Each may want to be involved in a different way and to a different extent. Each time HIW begins a new activity, it will think about who falls within these groups for the purpose of the activity and how best to involve them.

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The general public

People as citizens of Wales and consumers who have used or who have the potential to use healthcare services in Wales, i.e. anyone in Wales.

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Patients (or service users)

People who are using services or have recently used services.

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The actively interested public

People who take an active interest in services, particularly carers, and the family and friends of patients. This group may sometimes be integrated with ‘patients’.

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Patient interest groups

People in organisations that can provide information about common and differing perspectives and needs of groups of patients.

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People who may not get involved without particular

recognition and a sensitive approach to their individual needs, background and circumstances. For example, people from deprived or remote or rural communities; people with mental health problems; people with learning, physical or sensory disabilities; frail older people; children and young people; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; people who are carers; people for whom English or Welsh is not a first language, people from ethnic minority communities; people who are travellers; people who are homeless; people in prison; or people seeking asylum.

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HIW will ensure that there is sufficient focus on the needs of diverse groups of people and compliance with relevant legislation and good practice. This will have implications for the way in which we involve people, how we provide information and support and the places we will meet people. There are also implications for training, particularly diversity and equality awareness.

MAKING THIS HAPPEN To help make this happen, we will:

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Do our best to understand what matters most to patients and the public, and put their interests first in everything we do.

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Set a good example to healthcare organisations by actively engaging patients and the public in all our work.

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Ensure that a range of opportunities are offered to patients and the public to contribute and participate in our work that are flexible and sensitive to individual needs and abilities.

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Reach out to those who are least likely to be heard and most likely to get ill.

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Act on what we learn from patients and the public.

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Provide information that is easy to use and helps people to make decisions.

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Do all we can to make sure that healthcare organisations put the interests of patients and the public first and focus their efforts on improving health and healthcare.

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Encourage healthcare organisations to engage patients and the public as effectively as possible and to always promote good practice.

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Engage clinicians in our work, and help clinicians and patients and the public, to understand each other.

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