Our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) team have been sharing their experience as one of ten test bed sites to implement new national standards to improve public involvement in research.
What are the UK Standards for Public Involvement?
In March 2018, a new set of national standards were launched, designed to improve the quality and consistency of public involvement in research.
Ten ‘test bed’ sites from across the UK – including the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research – were selected to put the standards to practical use in their own working environment.
Learning from the pilot
Over the past year, representatives from each of the sites have had four teleconferences to discuss progress and challenges. The final workshop for the test bed sites took place in London on 16 May, attended by Centre representatives Tracy Jackson, PPI Research Fellow, and Bill Day, Patient Advisory Group member.
Each of the ten sites presented their journey over the past year in implementing the Standards; sharing changes made, benefits and challenges.
For the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research:
- The most significant made to implement the Standards was updating our communication style
- The greatest benefit of implementing the Standards was having a framework
- The greatest challenge of implementing the Standards was realising we didn’t have to use all standards on every project
The workshop provided the opportunity to discuss the impact the standards had on each site’s PPI work and what they were most concerned about – measuring impact was highlighted as an important topic.
Celebrating achievements
Awards for participating in the pilot project were presented to each test bed site by Simon Denegri, NIHR National Director for Patients, Carers and the Public.
Tracy Jackson commented:
"People impacted by asthma are at the centre of everything we do and our patient members are viewed as colleagues, nothing less. Making sure we are communicating well with everyone involved is important to working effectively. As a result of the UK Standards for Public Involvement we have streamlined our patient request process to make it easier to know what opportunities are available, how to get involved and what happens with patient feedback."