Participation of patients and family members in healthcare services at the service and national levels: A lesson learned in Dublin, Ireland

Objective: Identify the current amount and intensity of patient and family participation at the patient, service and national levels from a diabetes and a psychiatric service perspective. Establish the current level of support for greater participation and related characteristics. Method: Researcher-administered questionnaires were conducted with 738 patients and family members in an outpatient type 2 diabetes service and an outpatient psychiatric service, both in Dublin, Ireland. Results: Patient and family participation at the service and national levels are restricted to the provision of information. Typically no involvement in discussions or the decision-making process is reported. The majority of participants favour greater patient participation at the service level (537/669; 80.3%) and the national level (561/651; 86.2%). Greater support for patient and family member participation is significantly associated with participant's age, service satisfaction and level of education. Conclusion: Patient and family participation is greatest at the patient level. The majority of patients and family members support greater participation at the service and national levels. Practice implications: The best way to implement participation needs to be identified. There needs to be a greater focus on participation at the service level. The role of family members also needs to be investigated further. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.