The Health Research Authority, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and a host of organisations across the UK have been working together to bring about changes which will drive up standards in health and social care research. Together we have signed up to a Shared Commitment to public involvement.
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Embedding public involvement in health and social care research
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.
Find more from each of the partners
The Academy of Medical Sciences
The Association of Medical Research Charities
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Fuse, The Centre for Translational Research in Public Health
Health and Care Research Wales
Health and Social Care Northern Ireland
International Patient and Public Involvement Network
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement
National Institute for Health and Care Research
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria
What is the HRA doing to improve public involvement in health and social care research?
The Health Research Authority has a unique role within the research community to ensure the opportunity, rights, and well-being of people in research.
- We know that involving a diverse group of people with lived experiences helps us make better decisions. We will open more opportunity for people with lived experiences to be involved in our planning and decision making.
- We want to encourage excellent involvement across the health and social care research landscape. We will learn about and celebrate good practice. We will demonstrate the benefits of involvement for research, for participants and for the public, working with our partners including public contributors.
- We want researchers to make excellent patient and public involvement a normal part of their research. We will make sure researchers are aware of our Best Practice Principles and what we expect to see in an application for approval.
- Fair and consistent review of research applications earns public trust in research. We will improve how our review committees use insights from good involvement and how they respond to poor involvement when reviewing.
Our latest updates
- Second anniversary of the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement
- The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England joins the Shared Commitment
- What difference is public involvement making to the HRA’s work? Co-chairing a working group on the use of health and social care data
- The Health Foundation and NIHR Innovation Observatory join public involvement pledge
- What difference is Public Involvement making in the HRA's work?
- Bristol Health Partners joins Public Involvement Pledge
- Selecting members of our new Community Committee
- First anniversary of the Shared Commitment
- NHS England joins Public Involvement Pledge
- The Association of Medical Research Charities publishes a position statement on the importance of public involvement
- International Research Network joins Public Involvement pledge
- Health Data Research UK joins public involvement pledge - Health Research Authority (hra.nhs.uk)
- Putting patients first: MHRA publishes year two Delivery Plan update 2021 - 2023
- Research partnership joins public involvement pledge - Health Research Authority (hra.nhs.uk)
- Doomed tomatoes and sticky notes: if you want things to be different you have to do things differently - a blog by Leni Sivey
- New guidance for easier payment of public research contributors
- Putting people first in research - a blog by Barbara Molonyoates and Kate Greenwood
- Making it easy to do research that people can trust
- My role in developing a shared commitment to public involvement - a blog by Roger Wilson, public contributor
- Putting people first in research – a blog by Public Involvement Lead Jim Elliott
Find out more about the Shared Commitment
