Patient and stakeholder consultation in healthcare

The healthcare context is a highly complex one for a variety of reasons. One priority that is, however, firmly established on the agenda for the future is that of patient consultation and involvement in the design and delivery of healthcare services. What is an important next step is to consider ways in which such consultation can be achieved in practice. In order to provide high quality services that represent good value for all concerned, consideration also has to be given to the multiple stakeholder groups that exist in healthcare. The Servqual instrument and the nominal group technique can both provide some useful insights into patient and stakeholder priorities from both the service user and the service provider perspective which can then be incorporated into the service design and the service planning processes.