Independent evaluation of the feasibility of using the Patient Activation Measure in the NHS in England – early findings

This study aimed to evaluate how six health care organisations used the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) to help provide more personalised care and to measure the effectiveness of interventions to increase people’s knowledge, skills and confidence in managing their health.

The study was undertaken by a team from the University of Leicester.

Early findings from the evaluation can be found on the NHS England website and the final evaluation report can be found on the University of Leicester website.

Further information about the project

The early findings and final report present the findings from NHS England and the Health Foundation’s two-year project with the University of Leicester on the use of the PAM in the NHS.

Patient activation describes the knowledge, skills and confidence a patient has in managing his or her health and health care by helping identify and respond to patients that are disengaged and overwhelmed through to those that actively maintain and improve their health.

The evaluation team looked at how five NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and the UK Renal Registry used the PAM questionnaire to develop services offering care that is personalised; responding to preferences and individual situations of people with long term conditions.

The final report covers: an overview of the work across CCGs and the UK Renal Registry, the successes and challenges and some of the practicalities of using the measure.

There is a high level of interest in the use of the PAM across the health sector. This report will help organisations who are looking to use the PAM, or other approaches, to support patients to recognise and develop their own strengths and abilities.

Contact details

Suzanne Wood, Improvement Fellow, the Health Foundation suzanne.wood@health.org.uk

Professor Natalie Armstrong, Professor of Healthcare Improvement Research, SAPPHIRE Group, Department of Health Sciences
University of Leicester, 22-28 Princess Road West, Leicester, LE1 6TP, UK

t: +44 (0)116 252 3197
e:  na144@le.ac.uk