Other Ways to Get Involved

Patient involvement in healthcare

Patients are increasingly becoming involved in decision-making about healthcare and the NHS, and supporting other patients to manage their conditions. The links below detail some of the ways in which patients are involved:

• Involve, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, aims to promote and support active public involvement in the NHS, public health and social care.
• Expert Patients Programme is a community interest company - initially piloted in 2002 - which provides and delivers free courses aimed at helping people who are living with one or more long-term health conditions to develop skills to manage their conditions and help others do the same.

Organ donation

Thousands of people in the UK currently need a transplant. Of these, many will die each year because there are not enough organs available.

Visit the NHS blood and transplant for further information.

Donating your body to medical science

The education and training of medical professionals, as well as biomedical research, benefit from the generosity of those who donate their bodies for use after their death.

If you wish to donate your body for medical education, training or research, you should make your wishes known in writing (and formally witnessed) before you die and inform your next of kin. The minimum age for donation is 17. The form will be available from your local medical school.

For further information on how to donate your body and for details of your local medical school, please contact the Human Tissue Authority.