Engaging patients and caregivers: transforming healthcare together

Healthcare systems worldwide are evolving and changing rapidly.Several kinds of crises, as well as varying demographic determinants, have altered the equilibrium and trends posing challenges in terms of resilience, economic sustainability and the capacity to capture and then meet the real needs of people.In this evolving context, we cannot make true progress without recognising the value that patients and caregivers, as well as communities and citizens bring to improving the quality, safety and performance of care, as well as to making the system itself sustainable by contributing to the healthcare services cycle and the achievement of its outcomes.On the one hand, healthcare services' design, provision, and increasingly evaluation should be underpinned by a person-centred approach.On the other hand, among the main challenges of healthcare systems, long-term sustainability increasingly is challenged by rising prevalence of long-term conditions and comorbidity, constrained human resources and public finances.Demand to fund the treatment of illness is impacting the transformation of the social determinants of good health.In this environment co-production and shared decision-making must be one of the building blocks of the healthcare system of the future.