Ideally you should put a drainage chanel in if it is a big patio so it doesnt flood the flowerbed area and undermine any walls. Somethign like a french drain taking it back under the patio would work.
Here's a picture of the view from my upstairs back window and a diagram of what I'm aiming for.
There are actually two separate sections, with a concrete path down the middle. I think orginally the one on the right was a lawn and the other a flower bed, but, since I have no interest in gardening, I have done nothing with either since I moved in 15 years ago!
Both have concrete block edging on the path side and the patio will run up against them. The sections will slope outwards at a 1:60 gradient to the grey lines along each garden wall.
At the top left corner is a small tree of some sort which will stay there and there's a curved section at the bottom left (not visible in the photo) which will probably get a small bush of some sort planted in it.
The house is at the bottom of the diagram and the shed is at the top. The smudge bottom right is where there'll be a table and chairs
From what I can tell, because of the length of the patio sections and them only being 1.3m and 2.3m long, a soakaway wouldn't be necessary.
I believe that underneath the soil is a mixture of sand, gravel and clay.
On the left is the narrow strip 1.3m wide. At the far end of that is a dead tree that's going to be removed. Behind that is a tree that's staying there.
Down the centre is the path leading to the shed at the back and my washing line.
On the right is the 2.3m wide section with another bit of dead tree that has already been cut down!
I hope this clarifies things a bit...