Citizens' Panel
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.
Eleventh Panel Report
The Tobacco Action Plan, Vaccination Motivations and Digital health and social care (May 2023)
Find out moreTenth Panel Report
Community eyecare and NHS Scotland brand identity guidelines review (November 2022)
Find out moreNinth Panel Report
Public Engagement in health and social care service design and change, COVID-19 vaccination programme inclusion and COVID Status Certification (July 2022)
Find out moreEighth Panel Report
Dentistry services, urgent care services, planned care services, and the remit of the Patient Safety Commissioner. (March 2022)
Find out moreSeventh Panel Report
Health and social care experience during the COVID-19 pandemic and priorities for health and social care in the future (March 2021)
Find out moreSixth Panel Report
Awareness of antibiotic resistance, appropriate use of antibiotics and related public health campaigns (September 2020)
Find out moreFifth Panel Report
Scottish Ambulance Service, organ and tissue donation after death, and care provided by nurses and midwives (October 2019)
Find out moreFourth Panel Report
HIV awareness, mental health and wellbeing and inclusive communication (May 2018)
Find out moreThird Panel Report
Digital technology for healthcare improvement, use of personal health and social care information, and access to healthcare professionals other than doctors (January 2018)
Find out moreSecond Panel Report
Relationships with health and social care professionals, shared decision making, loneliness in Scotland, and how well local services are working (August 2017)
Find out moreFirst Panel Report
Social care support, pharmacy services and the use of medicines, and improving oral health (March 2017)
Find out moreFrequently Asked Questions
Can I join the Panel?
No. Panel members have been selected at random from the electoral register or recruited to be broadly representative of the Scottish population by gender, age, employment status, housing tenure, ethnic origin and geographic location.
What will Panel members do?
Panel members are sent a questionnaire to complete roughly three times a year. The questionnaire can be electronic or on paper, or completed over the phone.
What topics has the Panel looked at?
To date, Panel members have given feedback on a wide range of issues including Health Literacy, Pharmacy, Oral Health, Digital Healthcare, Loneliness, Realistic Medicine, HIV awareness and Inclusive Communications.
What do you do with Panel responses?
Panel members will get feedback about any surveys or other engagement activities that they take part in, and also about what impact or influence their participation has had. After each survey we produce a report about what we found out.
Can you separate the data to identify the views of people living in my local area?
The Panel is constructed to provide robust findings at a national level only. Any findings at local level would not be statistically robust so we do not separate the data in this way.