A new section of the HRA website provides details about how to involve relevant patients and other members of the public in the research which is intended to benefit them.
The new webpages introduce four key principles for best practice in public involvement:
1. Involve the right people – people who have lived experience relevant to the health condition or social care situation being researched, and to the people the study will aim to recruit as participants
2. Involve enough people to provide a reasonable breadth and depth of views on the issues that are likely to be important to the people the study will aim to recruit, and who it is intended to benefit
3. Involve those people enough in as many aspects of the study as is feasible, productive, and appropriate to the research - and at the right times
4. Describe in your application how it helps using the question specific guidance in the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) to make it clear how involving people well helps to address potential ethical issues.
The guidelines have been produced by the HRA Public Involvement Team, which works with researchers, patients and the public to ensure patients and the public are placed at the centre of health and social care research.
The new webpages also include practical resources and information about how to get started with public involvement.
The HRA strongly advise that applicants for regulatory approvals plan for working with patients and other members of the public.