Best practice principles to work with consumer representatives on patient safety investigation teams

Introduction: Consumer representatives (CRs), individuals with lived experience and other consumer advisers and volunteers, play an increasing role in advancing consumer-oriented healthcare. Some health services have begun integrating CRs into patient safety investigation teams with the aim of ensuring patient and family perspectives are incorporated into the process. Recent empirical research has begun to shed light on the perceptions and experiences of CRs in these roles. Built on these insights, this paper proposes a set of best practice principles for the effective engagement of CRs in patient safety investigations.

Methods: This study adopted a qualitative approach, drawing on data collected through interviews with 11 CRs and 10 focus groups with health service staff from Victoria, Australia. A co-design workshop was conducted with an advisory committee of six consumers from four Australian jurisdictions. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data and identify key themes.

Results: Four high-level themes emerged: (1) formalise the CR role, including the implementation of a standardised recruitment process with defined professional and personal selection criteria to ensure an appropriate fit for the role, as well as appropriate remuneration and considerations for inclusion and equity; (2) investigation team-level support, providing structured training for CRs, chairs and other team members to consider the team dynamics and interactions as a whole. Form buddy/mentorship programmes to ensure consistent engagement and support processes; (3) organisational integration, embedding the CR role within the organisational structure, including dedicated escalation pathways, ongoing evaluation and feedback mechanisms for continuous improvement of the role; (4) system-wide cultural shift, promoting the recognition and valuing CRs through committed leadership, legislative support and awareness building at all levels of the organisational hierarchy, and developing a shared pool of trained CRs.

Conclusion: The paper proposes best practice principles to optimise the engagement of CRs on patient safety investigation teams.

Patient or Public Contribution: Eleven individuals with experience as CRs on patient safety investigation teams were interviewed. Additionally, six consumers from four Australian jurisdictions—members of a research grant consumer advisory committee and co-authors of this paper—collaborated on the study design, contributing to data interpretation and writing, and worked with the research team to develop the proposed best practice principles.