Public involvement has always been at the heart of OneLondon’s work. In 2020 we held the world’s largest public deliberation on the use of health and care data. The public recommendations agreed at this Citizen’s Summit, and our ongoing work with Londoners, continue to shape everything we do.

Here two of our Citizen Representatives, Samina Malik and Deborah Millington, talk about their role helping to ensure the views of Londoners are centre stage of our work (2 May 2023).

Held in 2020 the OneLondon Citizens’ Summit brought together 100 Londoners reflective of the diverse population of London. We were two of these Londoners.

The aim was to debate some of the complex issues around uses of health and care data and identify recommendations as to how their health and care data should be used, who should have access to it, and for what purpose.

We were proud to be part of this lively and productive event that demonstrated the importance OneLondon attached to involving the public in the development of its work.

This commitment was not a one off and has continued.

We were recruited to be two of three Citizen Representatives for the London Health Data Strategy Programme. All three of us have a strong interest in how patient and public data is accessed, shared and stored as part of healthcare service planning, service delivery and quality improvement

Our aim is to ensure that the LHDS Programme is shaped and informed by views of London citizens and that London governs and safeguards citizens’ healthcare data in a transparent and responsible way.

Over the past 12 months we have been working to deliver that including advising on the establishment of the Independent Information Access Group, reviewed public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) plans from the pathfinder projects and held PPIE forums with them.

It is so important to constantly show and explain to the public why the Programme is important to quality improvement and patient care.

This is a really exciting journey and we are keen to ensure that the OneLondon principles of listening to Londoners continues to be at the forefront of the Programme.

We look forward to continuing our work on the LHDS as part of an engaged and committed Citizen Representatives team.

Samina Malik and Deborah Millington