The Patient and Carer Network (PCN) is a network of volunteers in England and Wales who support and shape the work of the Royal College of Physicians.
What does the PCN do?
We help to redesign health care
We work with diverse teams of healthcare professionals to improve health outcomes. The Modern Ward Rounds guidance describes how care can be delivered in hospital in partnership with patients, families and carers. Read the report here.
We strive to make healthcare safer
We use our lived experience to work with clinicians to create useful resources like the medicine safety checklist.
You can read more about it in our blogs here.
We want to make experiences better
We help to improve difficult conversations. In our work on the Talking about Dying report, we held an online focus group to bring members together to share their personal experiences of talking about dying. This fed into the development and revision of guidance that helps clinicians to talk to their patients and families in an honest, timely and sensitive manner.
We support and influence the work of the RCP
The PCN is a key partner in the work of RCP specialty committees, boards and working groups. We sit on RCP journal editorial boards and contribute to Commentary magazine. As representatives, we are able to influence and provide the patient perspective to groups of specialist clinicians, highlighting why patient and carer expertise is important and how it can be better utilised.
You can read our latest Commentary article here or a longer version here.
You can read our evaluation and guidance to make engagement better.
Becoming a member
Everyone is a patient at some point in their lives. Many people become carers. Health does not discriminate. For this reason, anyone, regardless of their background, the amount of time they can give or how they want to engage, can be a member of the Patient and Carer Network. We want people to join who are passionate about improving healthcare for all.
If you would like to find out more, please email pcn@rcp.ac.uk