Finding answers in MSK

Is a 'prepared' public more likely to engage positively with health and care?

If we want people to have a better relationship with our healthcare system, how can we support them to be equal partners in that relationship?

A Blog by Matt Evans, Senior Change Manager (Personalisation), It's All About People Team

We're about to try a Finding Answers campaign in parts of the Musculoskeletal (MSK) pathway. This mini-project is part of a much wider effort to embed personalised approaches in the Hip and Knee pathway, where colleagues have collaborated with people who are experts by experience.

Through this collaboration, we have learned that many people feel lost or isolated in the system. They don’t know what is available to them and don’t know what choices they have. Together, we have worked to promote opportunities, and increase staff knowledge of what choice is out there.

But should this be solely the workforce’s job to enable this? What can people do for themselves?

There’s evidence of a very paternalistic system, where clinicians do the fixing and are relied upon by the 'patient'. Some of our actions and behaviours don’t yet challenge that. Colleagues can fall into a trap of trying to provide answers when sometimes we don’t know all the questions – this often occurring as a result of best intentions.

So, to get things started, we’ve lifted NHS England’s Ask 3 Questions work and co-produced a Lincolnshire version. We’re asking colleagues to share the poster, then to feed back on how it lands with the public. The group are keen to learn if the poster initiates conversations.

Does being a ‘prepared patient’, with specific questions to ask, help to make people feel more in control, and therefore begin to foster a better relationship between them and the system?  

On its own, this tool may not prompt a huge change. But, as part of a larger range of tools and approaches, could we start to create a better relationship, together? 

Please feel free to download the Finding Answers poster and trial it yourself - and please share your experience of it. There is no formal reporting or analysis at this stage - just send an email with your thoughts and experience via matthew.evans34@nhs.net  We will share more about this campaign as it develops.