Our Citizens' Panel brings together people across Scotland to inform and influence key decisions about health and social care policy and services.

The Citizens' Panel aims to capture and reflect the views of the Scottish public. It brings together the views of around 1,000 members of the public, asking their opinion on different health and social care issues.

Panel members were randomly selected from the Scottish population and twice a year they are invited to share their views on multiple topics through online, postal and phone surveys. The people who agreed to join the panel come from all over Scotland and all walks of life.

Panel membership is broadly reflective of the Scottish population. This means that we have similar proportions of people on our panel that is found in the Scottish population for example in terms of sex, age and deprivation.

Having a broadly representative panel helps ensure that we are hearing the views of Scottish people in all their diversity. When taken together these views can provide a snapshot of public opinion in Scotland this will help health and social care providers understand the priorities for the public. The Scottish Government and health and care providers can then consider these views when they design and deliver services.