Skip to main content

Building Better Participation

The National Association for Patient Participation (N.A.P.P.) launched a resource guide to help all GP practice Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) work effectively.

NHS England commissioned N.A.P.P. to develop Building Better Participation, which is available for download below. 

N.A.P.P. President and Chairman, Dr Patricia Wilkie, said

We are delighted to have been able to work with NHS England to produce this guide. Now that all GP practices must have a PPG, this guide will help every PPG and practice be even more effective in working together for the benefit of patients.”

Designed to be of use to all PPGs, whether long-standing or recently formed, whether large or very small, whether in a single practice or as part of a federation of practices, Building Better Participation was developed and “road tested” with the involvement of over 50 PPG members and Practice Managers. It will help PPGs and their practice to reflect on what they do, how they work, and how they might become even more effective.

Building better participation is a framework of four inter-linking Areas:

  • Getting PPGs in place
  • Helping PPGs work well
  • Knowing and working with patients
  • Influencing beyond the GP practice

Within each Area there are a set of Goals to help the PPG and its practice focus on particular pieces of activity. And each Area is supported by a wide-ranging set of web-based resources. The guide has been designed so that PPGs and their practice can dip in to the elements most useful to them, rather than being a tool that they are expected to work through systematically.

Its use of “plain English” helps make it an accessible resource, and it captures links to many helpful online materials to support it.

Professor Nigel Mathers, Honorary Secretary of the Royal College of General Practitioners, added:

“Where Patient Participation Groups and GP practices are working well together, these partnerships have already brought significant value to patients and practice staff. We welcome the introduction of this new guide to help more practices collaborate in this way and reap the benefits of effective patient involvement.”