Today, we have signed up to the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research, which aims to drive up standards by improving the quality of public involvement across the health and care research sector.
Launched in March 2022, the Shared Commitment was developed in partnership with the Health Research Authority, leading health and social care organisations and members of the public to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to enhancing public involvement in health and care research.
By signing up to the commitment we join over 30 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 Executive, says, ‘It’s great to have the NIHR School for Primary Care Research 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.’
Embedded within all NIHR School of Primary Care Research (SPCR) activity is the involvement of patients and the public which is guided by the SPCR public involvement and engagement strategy and continually monitored by the SPCR Public Steering Group.
As part of our public involvement and engagement activity, the SPCR delivers training for public involvement to researchers and the public, involves the public in our governance and funding decision-making, facilitates a network of public involvement leads across the SPCR and provides dedicated funding to researchers to trial new and innovative approaches to public involvement and engagement
Professor Christian Mallen, Director of the SPCR said:
“We are thrilled to be able to formalise our dedication to public involvement by joining the Shared Commitment. At the core of the School for Primary Care Research is a commitment to be guided by the lived experience and perspectives of patients and the public in all that we do. We have made significant and consistent progress to enhance public involvement within the School. This has included developing approaches for meaningful public involvement in our governance and funding decision-making, as well as providing dedicated funding for researchers to trial novel and inclusive approaches to involvement and engagement. By joining this shared commitment we are strengthening our promise to work in partnership with patients and the public, embed involvement within all our activity and continually strive to improve.”
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.'
Read the NIHR School for Primary Care Research’s pledge here.
Image of SPCR Public Steering Group
Organisations who have signed the Shared Commitment can be found here: The Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in health and social care research partners