Patient & Public Involvement Forums (PPI)

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Introduction - What are they?

Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) Forums are currently being established.  Their role is to take over the independent local "watchdog" function that used to be carried out in England by Community Health Councils (CHCs).  You can read more about CHCs and their abolition on our Patient Advocacy page.  PPI Forums were first proposed in 2000, in a government paper called The NHS Plan.  More detail was provided in another document - Involving Patients and the Public in Healthcare - in 2001.  The reforms were ultimately enacted in The National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act (2002).

The legislation stipulates that every NHS Trust in England should have an associated PPI Forum.  This includes all hospital Trusts and all Primary Care Trusts (PCTs - every GP, NHS dentist, health visitor, etc. is responsible to a regional PCT).  This means that, wherever NHS treatment is available, there will be a PPI Forum that monitors the provision of services by the Trust in question (the "Host Trust").

Each PPI Forum is to be constituted of at least 7 members; a membership of 15-20 is expected to be typical.  The legislation dictates that a majority of the members must be users of the Host Trust.  Each Forum must also have members from voluntary organisations, community groups, and other bodies that represent patients, carers, and the public.  NHS employees are not allowed to join a PPI Forum.