Advancing healthcare sciences through staff, student and service user partnerships

The reforms to the National Health Service scientific training as part of the Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) initiative have attempted to streamline the delivery of undergraduate-level education through a core ‘Healthcare Science’ Bachelors programme. Central to the reforms, and therefore an integral part of the curricula, is the involvement of patients and service users. Although their involvement is well-established in other medical and healthcare-related disciplines, for Healthcare Science it is new. This case study presents the approaches to integrate patient and service user views in two undergraduate programmes, namely Life Sciences and Physiological Sciences, including input into both programme governance and delivery. The study outlines the challenges and benefits perceived at these early stages of implementation and raises important questions for future research