Significant variation exists in how health care systems and medical professionals are regulated in different countries, in order to ensure the public are protected from unsafe or poorly-performing doctors. One key feature they increasingly share in common is an emphasis on the value of including members of the public in quality assurance processes, to act as a counteracting voice to those of doctors, other health professions and health care managers.

This collection compares and critically examines the ways in which different countries are involving service users in the regulation of health services, in order to highlight their real-world impact on patients.