An independent charity and a research organisation have joined the Health Research Authority (HRA) and a host of other leading organisations in a pledge to improve public involvement in research.
The Health Foundation and NIHR Innovation Observatory have signed up to the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement, which aims to drive up standards by improving the quality of public involvement across the health and research sector.
The Health Foundation and the NIHR Innovation Observatory join 18 leading health and research organisations including, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), NHS England, and Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
Dr Matt Westmore, HRA Chief ExecutiveIt’s great to have the Health Foundation and the NIHR Innovation Observatory join our Shared Commitment to Public Involvement.
We launched the Shared Commitment with other leading organisations, to raise the profile, value and importance of public involvement in health and social care research.
Together we are sending a very strong message to the research system that public involvement in the design and delivery of research is essential and must be taken seriously.
The evidence is that better research results from involvement, and better research delivers benefits for patients.
The Health Foundation is an independent charitable organisation working to build a healthier UK. The Foundation’s priorities are to:
- improve people’s health and reduce inequalities
- support radical innovation and improvement in health and care services
- provide evidence and analysis to improve health and care policy
Its work is guided by three cross-cutting themes including environmental sustainability; equity, diversity and inclusion; and public participation.
Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and the Research and Economic Analysis for the Long term (REAL) Centre at the Health FoundationWe’re delighted to make this Shared Commitment to improve public involvement in research. High quality public involvement can bring long lasting benefits, from improving the design and delivery of research to gaining new insights and ideas, and creating a deeper understanding of the complex issues we are trying to address.
The NIHR Innovation Observatory is the national horizon scanning and intelligence research centre. It provides early signals, alerts and insight into the health and care innovation landscape and supports the acceleration of innovation into areas of unmet need.
The research organisation provides their stakeholders, such as National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), NHS England (NHSE), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), patients, the public and industry, with accessible tools, methods and insights to help them navigate the dynamic landscape of emerging technologies.
The aim of NIHR Innovation Observatory is to support timely decision-making, resource allocation, and planning, ultimately leading to enhanced patient care and outcomes.
Professor Dawn Craig, Director of the NIHR Innovation ObservatoryThe Innovation Observatory, as part of the NIHR family, continuously strives to ensure that we place public involvement and engagement at the core of our research.
We believe that getting the ‘right innovations’ into the health and care system cannot happen without meaningful input and involvement from people and communities. This vital input and involvement needs to start at the very beginning of the journey if we are to ensure that our health and care system truly meets people’s needs.
By signing up to this shared commitment, we are strengthening our promise (and reaffirming our NIHR position) to ensure that our research is developed and undertaken collaboratively with communities, patients, and members of the public both nationally and locally.
The Shared Commitment was developed in partnership with the HRA, leading health and social care organisations and members of the public. It launched in March 2022.
It builds on work led by the HRA in response to the reduction in public involvement seen in studies submitted for approval at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Shared Commitment, which is partially funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Recovery, Resilience and Growth (RRG) programme, includes a joint pledge to help improve the quality of public involvement, which each organisation signs up to.
Public involvement refers to all the ways in which the research community works together with people including, patients, carers, advocates, service users, and members of the community.
Excellent public involvement is inclusive, values all contributions, ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens and influences outcomes, as set out in the UK Standards for Public Involvement.
Evidence shows that excellent public involvement improves the quality and impact of research.
Embedding public involvement in health and social care research
The Shared Commitment statement, signed by leaders at each organisation, reads:
Public involvement is important, expected, and possible in all types of health and social care research.
Together our organisations and members fund, support and regulate health and social care research. This statement is our joint commitment to improve the extent and quality of public involvement across the sector so that it is consistently excellent.
People have the right to be involved in all health and social care research. Excellent public involvement is an essential part of health and social care research and has been shown to improve its quality and impact. People’s lived experiences should be a key driver for health and social care research.
When we talk about public involvement, we mean all the ways in which the research community works together with people including patients, carers, advocates, service users, and members of the community.
Excellent public involvement is inclusive, values all contributions, ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens and influences outcomes, as set out in the UK Standards for Public Involvement.
Working together we will support the research community to carry out excellent public involvement. We will provide or share guidance, policies, systems, and incentives.
We will:
- listen to and learn from the people and communities we involve and apply and share that learning
- build and share the evidence of how to involve the public and the impact this has
- support improvements in equality, diversity, and inclusion in public involvement
- promote the UK Standards for Public Involvement
We will embed this commitment into the decision-making processes of our organisations.
Organisations who have signed the Shared Commitment include:
The Academy of Medical Sciences
The Association of Medical Research Charities
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
Health and Care Research Wales
Health and Social Care Northern Ireland
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement
National Institute for Health Research
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria
Join the Shared Commitment
Organisations from across the health and social care research sector are invited to join our Shared Commitment. Find out how your organisations can get involved.