The patient ' s voice in health and social care professional education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a statement about the involvement of patients in the education of health and social care professionals developed at an international conference in November 2015. It aims to describe the current state and identify action items for the next five years. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes how patient involvement in education has developed as a logical consequence of patient and public participation in health care and health research. It summarizes the current state of patient involvement across the continuum of education and training, including the benefits and barriers. It describes how the conference statement was developed and the outcome. Findings – The conference statement identifies nine priorities for action in the areas of policy, recognition and support, innovation, research and evaluation, and dissemination and knowledge exchange. Originality/value – The conference statement represents the first time that an international and multidisciplinary group has worked together to assemble in a single document specific priorities for action to embed the patient’s voice in health professional education.