NIHR unites with health and social care leaders to improve public research involvement
pharmafile | March 11, 2022 | News story | Medical Communications |
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has announced a new shared commitment to improve public health in research. The NIHR announced the collaboration between funders, regulators, and research organisers, who play an important role in UK health and social care research, all working with members of the public to drive up standards in health and social care research.
The statement has been co-produced with members of the public, patients and service users and aims to address the gaps identified in leadership and communication, bringing patients and public contributors and leaders in health and social care together.
Ifeanyi Sargeant an NIHR public contributor said: “Ultimately, research aims to ask the right questions to get answers for problems and challenges we face. But how to know which questions to ask and what is most important or meaningful to address for people with health or social care needs? The only way is to ask the people affected what they struggle with and what they need. That’s why public involvement in research – right from the initial ideas through to practical implementation – is vitally important. If we don’t ask the right questions then we can never hope to deliver the right answers and solutions that can improve lives.”
The NIHR is a government agency in the UK, which funds research into health and social care. It is the largest clinical research funder in the UK, with a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2019–20, and works to “fund, enable and deliver world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing”. It is often described as the “research arm of the NHS”.
“Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities is absolutely fundamental to improving research. We’re proud to have worked with health and social care leaders and public contributors to develop this strong statement of our ongoing commitment to public involvement,” shared Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Executive of the NIHR and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health and Social Care. “We already have a track record in this area but we are committed to supporting researchers to become more skilled and confident in partnership working and to making it more straightforward for patient and public members to work with us.”
Ana Ovey
