By Emma Sheffield, Communications and Marketing Manager.

Each year, Patient Partnership Week brings together patients, healthcare leaders and other charities to share insights and experiences. The week couldn’t have been better timed, coinciding with the launch of the government’s new 10 Year Health Plan. Against this backdrop, the conversations felt more urgent than ever with a shared recognition that if we’re serious about building a fairer, more responsive health service, then we need the meaningful involvement of those who use it.

Everything starts with listening to patients

Many of our patient advocates spoke about the emotional toll of being unheard or disbelieved. “A lot of times, patients are feeling very frustrated because they're not being heard on any level,” shared Vanessa Wills in our Breaking down barriers to equitable care session.

The impact of this can be devastating. Ellen Tutton described how "watching two trusts arguing whether I could have certain treatments was an awful place to sit", a stark reminder of how patients can become casualties of system failures rather than the people the system exists to serve.

But there are cases of where the system is getting it right. Another patient advocate, Ellie Howe told us how her experience of attending a specialist hospital was characterised by good care co-ordination, something she hadn’t experienced at her local GP surgery. "I really believe it's because they looked at me not just as a gastric patient with these rare conditions, they looked at me as a person," she said in our Patient power: energising the 10 Year Health Plan through patient partnership webinar.

Our final session for the week, Championing patient voices in healthcare campaigns, spotlighted the vital importance of involving patients at the beginning of any processes. Aurora Todisco, patient advocate, explained, "when it's done right, patients can become equal partners. They don't just tell their own story, they shape policy, develop campaigns and improve services. That is what co-production really means, it means working together as equals, sharing power and creating something better."

A system under pressure, a moment of opportunity

While we couldn’t have predicted the timing, the launch of the 10 Year Health Plan landed on the Thursday of Patient Partnership Week. This is a critical moment for the NHS and patients in England, and we were able to speak to Sir Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of NHS England, the day before the plan was published.

He was honest about the challenges ahead, but also optimistic: “I would hope in five years’ time the system will be less stressed... Patients and families are happier about what the NHS is doing for them. Staff are happier because they’re able to do what they’re trained to do, and have the space to do it.”

Crucially, Sir Jim underlined the role of honesty and public involvement: “You've got to have curiosity and frankly, you've got to be willing to hear what you don't want to hear.” He later went on to say, “transparency is a thing that can't be selective. So once we say it's transparent, it's transparent - even when it tells us something we don't want to see.”

It’s a mindset that resonates strongly with the values of patient partnership and one we hope to see reflected in the plan’s delivery from day one.

Digital innovation: done with patients, not just for them

Another major focus of the week was digital transformation. We know from our own work that patients want better digital access to healthcare. From managing appointments online to accessing records, the demand is there. But we also heard, loud and clear, that digital tools only work when they’re built with patients not simply handed to them.

As Tara Donnelly, Founder of Digital Care, put it in our Making digital innovation work for everyone session, “If you've got a ropey model of care, the best tech in the world is not going to make it work for people. You've got to get the model right, and then tech that supports that, is easy to use, and has had proper user-based design.”

When done well, digital tools can empower patients, improve communication, and offer more control over care. But we must not forget that for others, digital-first can be a barrier rather than a solution. As Ruhel Ahmed, patient advocate, reminded us, “empowerment only works when people have the tools, support and access that they need. Without that we’re just shifting responsibility without support. Inclusion needs to be built in, not bolted on.”

Or as Rebecca Brown, Chief Digital Information Officer, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, told us, “We need to make sure there's a backstop built into every system... so that if people aren’t able to access it digitally, they’re given equal opportunity to access it either on paper or by speaking to someone.”

Digital innovation is part of the answer but only if it comes with proper support and real choice. Otherwise, we risk building a system that works brilliantly for some and not at all for others.

Partnership without equity isn’t partnership at all

A central theme throughout the week was the urgent need to embed equity in every conversation about partnership. Whether it’s digital exclusion, systemic racism, or structural barriers to care, minoritised groups continue to face additional hurdles and these must be addressed head-on.

Our Head of Partnership and Involvement, Sarah Tilsed, spoke about the risk of invisibility in healthcare data: “You can only work with the data that you have. So, if minoritised groups are not getting seen in data, then they’re going to be excluded from any initiatives.”

Charles Kwaku-Odoi, Chief Executive, Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN), highlighted how poor experiences deepen mistrust: “Even when we’ve managed to convince people to get into healthcare, they end up having poor experiences and then outcomes.”

This systemic challenge was starkly articulated by John James from Sickle Cell Society, who warned that "we are in danger of normalising poor care", a sobering reminder of how acceptance of substandard treatment can become embedded in healthcare culture.

However, there are frameworks emerging to address these challenges. Racheal Pay from Weber Shandwick shared the core model designed to place equity at the heart of health communications, demonstrating practical approaches to ensure that partnership isn't just a concept but a lived reality for all patients.

And our Chief Executive, Rachel Power, summed it up: “We must start and end with patients and make sure that we're really thinking how has this reached the most vulnerable in our society, because if we get it right there, we're getting it right for everyone else.” Equity isn’t an add-on, it’s the foundation of partnership.

The overarching message that emerged throughout Patient Partnership Week was clear: none of this works if we don't trust the patient.

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We’re extremely grateful to all our speakers, and especially to the patient advocates who spoke so powerfully and candidly about their experiences. You can catch up on all our webinars on-demand via our website.

As the NHS rolls out its 10-Year Health Plan, the real work begins and we’re here to make sure patients aren’t side-lined. Patient Partnership Week is just one part of our mission to embed patient voices at the heart of health and care. With your support, we can turn partnership from promise into practice. Donate now.