Published by the King’s Fund, this paper concentrates on individuals’ involvement in their own health and care, and the involvement of an individual’s family or other carers. The paper is aimed at those who are less familiar with the day-to-day concepts and practice of individual forms of involvement, and who would benefit from a strategic overview to inform practice, strategy and policy.

It sets out eight key forms of individual involvement, and describes in brief what each means, who it is relevant for, how to do it, the impact it can have, and current progress. It also provides details of further resources.

The eight key forms of involvement the paper identifies are:

• engaging people in keeping healthy
• shared decision-making
• supported self-management
• having a personal health or social care budget
• involving families and carers
• choosing a provider
• taking part in research as part of your care and treatment
• evaluating services through feedback.

The report argues that these areas are the foundations of a ‘person-centred’ health care system, and that impementing these can help us turn the rhetoric into tangible experiences for people accessing services. It also argues that individual forms of involvement cannot be employed in isolation from each other but that they collectively represent a fundamental cultural shift.