The Health Foundation is an independent charity working to continuously improve the quality of heatlhcare in the UK

MAGIC: Shared decision making

Logo for MAGIC: making good decisions in collaborationIn brief

Healthcare is changing. More and more people are asking to know more about their healthcare choices. They want information and the chance to have a say about their care. Shared decision making is the involvement of patients as equal partners in their healthcare. Tools to support shared decision making can include self-management support, access to personal health records, personal health budgets, care planning and decision aids.

Shared decision making has great potential to give individuals higher quality healthcare. It takes advantage of clinicians as experts on treatment options, and puts the individual in the driver’s seat to consider what’s important to them: their circumstances, personal values, and attitude to risk. While there is good evidence that it works, it is a big culture shift from the traditional ‘passive patient and expert health professional’ style of care that many people are used to.

We think shared decision making can make an excellent contribution to improving the quality of UK healthcare. People are more motivated to take advice and follow treatment plans when they understand the reasons and thinking behind their care, so treatment is more successful. Plus there are strong economic benefits. Research shows that when given the right support and information, patients usually choose more cost effective options.

So, we’ve done our research and looked at how good practice can be implemented on a wider scale.  Now, with help from shared decision making experts, we are taking steps to see it embraced throughout the NHS.

Our MAGIC programme is working with frontline health professionals and their priority projects across the UK to test how to embed best practice and overcome the barriers to change. We are one year into the programme and so far we’re seeing some interesting and inspiring results. We think we’re on our way to making healthcare more patient-centred and influencing more healthcare professionals to give patients the choice and involvement they are asking for.

Comments
Julian Simcox 21 December 2011
I applaud this initiative. In evaluating tools however it will be easy to miss the tools already being used by patients themselves. One such tool is BaseLine© which is endorsed by the NHSI for use by clinicians and managers when monitoring and improving the performance of critical processes, pathways and commissioning interventions. It is now being adapted for use by patients and will be tested later next year by EMIS in GP Practice trials. More than trying to empower clinicians and patients, the tool enables individuals to self-empower. By following this link you will be able to see two patient case studies where patients are using BaseLine© to transform the conversation they have with their physician – and their outcomes. http://threewinsacademy.com/An_Information_System_For_The_Self-Managing_Patient.pdf
The paper incidentally is also a polemic that argues not just for wider patient access to their physician’s notes, but also for the joint creation of those notes.
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