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.