These are just some of the benefits that are achievable through effective community engagement:

•  Research has shown that community involvement to be strongly associated with good outcomes for primary health care services
• Consumer participation increases the level of consumer satisfaction with services
• Consumer participation builds on an environment where individuals are more likely to take responsibility for their own health
• Consumer participation helps make service planning decisions that reflect the needs and wishes of the community
• A sense of ownership of services is increased through consumer participation
• Consumer participation is a more effective and efficient means of providing an understanding of local needs and issues.
• Consumer participation improves service quality, particularly in relation to access and service responsiveness
• Consumer participation helps to market a service
•  The level of social capital in a community is increased by consumer participation

(Reference – Outer East Health & Community Support Alliance)

Additional Benefits

There are many benefits to planned and coordinated Community Engagement processes. Additionally, there are also many risks and costs involved in not involving the community.