GovWire

Foreword

It has been over a year since we published our Patient Involvement Strategy. Much has been achieved during the first year to engage and involve patients in our work. We recognise there is more to do to ensure we deliver on our commitment to put patients first, and this is just the start of a journey.

In the first year we have:

• involved patients in the early stages of medicinal product development, and encouraged the wider research landscape to do the same
• included the patient and public perspective in our work to widen access to medicines
• incorporated patient views and lived experience in our benefit-risk reviews of medical products
• integrated the views of over 2,400 members of the public into a new scheme which will help us understand and reduce the number of harmful side effects caused by medicines
• launched a training programme on patient involvement, specially designed for our staff

We are proud of the progress we have made, but we recognise we have more to do. We know that we need to continue to challenge and change how we do things to ensure the patient voice is embedded at every stage of the regulatory pathway. We need to make sure our staff and patient partners have the training, confidence and support needed to carry out this work. We need to act on what weve heard, and feedback to those involved. We must prioritise diversity and inclusion within our patient involvement, to support equity within health and care.

The progress so far gives us a solid base to build upon as we progress in this journey. Thank you to the members of the public, patients and patient groups who have contributed so far.