The HRA is an 'involving organisation'. To deliver our services and achieve our goals we work closely with our Community:
- the Confidentiality Advisory Group
- Research Ethics Committee
- public contributors who shape work through public involvement activities
We work in partnership with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. And with many other public bodies including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Our work impacts on:
- the public: patients, service users, carers, advocates and other members of the community
- research teams and staff working in health and social care
- research sponsors
- organisations across the health and social care sector
We work alongside members of these groups on everything from developing new policies and guidance, recruiting staff, and planning our work. We work with different people, on different tasks, and in different ways. Sometimes it’s crucial to hear from people with detailed insight and close knowledge of specific issues. And sometimes we need to step back and check our assumptions with those most impacted by our decisions.
It’s the right thing to do. And it helps us make decisions that people can trust.
Developing our strategy is no different. To decide what to prioritise, and how we should be working with others, it was crucial to have a 360-degree view of our work and its impact.
To do this we:
- set up a strategy project board including our interim Chair, Neelam Patel, two members of our Community Committee and staff from across the organisation
- shared a survey through our networks and analysed feedback from 100s of people
- maintained an ongoing dialogue with all HRA staff, sharing updates, themes, and versions of the strategy as they developed, and inviting questions and suggestions from the people who will deliver the change we want to see
- received advice on the content of the strategy with our Community Committee at an early stage, and again as it neared completion
- invited HRA staff, members of Research Ethics Committee and members of the public with specific experience and skills to inform new areas of work
- hosted a workshop to test emerging and complex themes. This workshop was attended by HRA staff, our Community, and wider stakeholders
- worked with members of our Community and HRA staff to shape how we finalised and launched our strategy
Our mission has not changed – we’re still working to make it easier to do research people can trust. But our new strategy includes more detail to show the change we’re making. And brings out specific actions to address opportunities and issues we heard again and again when developing our strategy.
Becky Purvis, Director of Policy and Partnerships“It is really important for us to hear from, engage with and involve people who bring lots of different perspectives to inform our strategy. This helps us to identify the most effective actions we can take over the next three years to make it easier to do research that people can trust."