MAGIC: Shared decision making

why this project?

We are here to inspire and create the space for people to make lasting improvements to health services.

We believe that the UK can have a first class health service. One that offers people the right support to control their own health and healthcare decisions. The NHS needs to transform how it helps people make choices about their health, the tests and treatments they have and how their care is provided.

Often there is more than one way to manage a clinical problem and in these situations, the patient’s preferences are very important. This is where shared decision making comes in – and the patient and clinician can work together to decide the solution.

The Government has begun recognising the need to make healthcare more person-centred. They are now looking at giving patients some choices, like which hospital, GP or specialist team to use. This is a type of choice, but we know that supporting patients to make choices means doing much more.

A first class service offers true choice that supports everyone to make good daily decisions about their health. It gives them more help and advice if they need it. It helps them with choices about types of healthcare and which treatments suit best. It’s about choosing time and location of care, and the preferred way of getting advice and support. A system offering this is better for the individual’s health, can free up clinicians’ time and have economic advantages for the health service.  

We know people want these choices. They want to be active participants in their health, be listened to and have their preferences considered. Research shows that with the right support and information, patients generally choose the most cost-effective treatments, are more motivated to take advice and follow treatment plans and ultimately have better health outcomes.

So, if it looks like getting everyone on board with shared decision making could bring benefits to patients and the NHS, what’s the hold up?

It’s a big culture shift. It means breaking away from traditional relationships between ‘passive patients’ and ‘expert health professionals’. And that’s why MAGIC is so important. By working with frontline healthcare professionals in various clinical settings, we’re trying different ways of encouraging shared decision making and spreading our learning across the healthcare community. From the work MAGIC is doing, we are discovering positive things happen when clinicians and patients work together to make decisions, and along the way we are seeing attitudes and behaviours changing.