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Improving the quality of patient and public involvement undertaken by providers and commissioners of health and social care is a key aim of our PPI Quality Standard. We often use the principles of the standard to comment on PPI when providers and commissioners engage with the public. 

We welcomed the CCG’s plan to ensure that it stops variation in accessing NHS-funded services across the CCG population and ensuring that access is equal and fair. However, we highlighted that the effectiveness of this service in meeting the needs of West Birmingham residents will depend on how they are implemented and the principles that govern their implementation. 

Our response to the PCN service specification focused on highlighting the current concerns that service users tells us about accessing GP services. We also shared the findings from our study on ‘what matters most: support people want from general practices in Birmingham’ to highlight what people value from GP services. We therefore asked NHS England to consider these experiences in the implementation of the specification noting the additional pressures this placed on GPs.

Thanks to people sharing their views and experiences with us, we were able to share these in a response to Birmingham City Council’s 2020 budget consultation.

As a result of people sharing their experiences of accessing hospital eye services in Birmingham, they should see an improvement in the quality of eye services in Birmingham and see their needs better understood by those that provide and commission eye services.

Throughout the year people tell us about the challenges they face when accessing GP services. People face various difficulties from registering to appointments. Therefore, when SWB CCG consulted on whether to disperse the practice list or find another healthcare organisation to deliver the GP service, we decided to share the experiences we hear from service users in order to inform the decision made. The feedback we shared highlighted the issues that people face when registering with GPs and the challenges that needed to be addressed should the CCG decide to close the practice.