The former Lay Partnership Group has become Chiropractic Patient Voice (CPV)

Chair: Mr Hew Helps

The Lay Partnership Group (LPG) was a committee of the Royal College that provided a public and patient viewpoint with regard to College business and developed initiatives to support patient advocacy.

The LPG conceived and, to date, has administered the Patient Partnership Quality Mark (PPQM).

Since 2003, the LPG worked closely with the Chiropractic Patients Association (CPA), pursuing similar goals and objectives and even sharing personnel. This has recently led to the CPA Trustees making the decision for the CPA to merge into the RCC and form a new patient committee within the RCC’s organisational structure. The Trustees of both the CPA and the RCC have undertaken appropriate due diligence and unanimously approved this merger, which ws expected to be finalised in 2022.

This important development will improve administrative efficiency and ensure the patient-centred objectives of the CPA are sustainable in the long-term. It will also lead to a range of exciting developments and opportunities, including:

  • Establishment of a larger and more representative national chiropractic patient forum
  • New support materials for patients, both phone and web-based
  • Greater opportunities for patient involvement in a range of activities including active input to consultations
  • Support for the development of local patient groups

The new group will take on responsibility for managing the Patient Partnership Quality Mark (PPQM), and assets transferred from the CPA will be ring-fenced to further the objectives that are currently common to both the CPA and the RCC, including financial support for research.

It is hoped that the CPA’s members, who are chiropractic patients, will remain associated with the new group; there will be no membership fees for these members to pay in the future, but many more resources to support them and more opportunities for them to have a say in issues that matter to them. A major objective of the new committee will be to grow the membership of this patient body.

Further announcements will follow.