Involving members of the public to ensure our work makes a difference.
At King’s Improvement Science (KIS), we work closely with people who have personal experience of using health and social care services in south London, or caring for someone who does.
This is a priority for KIS – to involve people who use health and care services and ensure that our research considers local and national requirements informed by people with first-hand knowledge and experience of services. This ensures our research delivers positive impact.
We aspire to improve public involvement activity by learning how we can ensure diverse, inclusive and accessible involvement.
“I single out my involvement in KIS PPI group activities as a personal highlight, a time invested in learning new things, interacting with researchers working in different areas of implementation science, finding plenty of opportunities to shape the course of research studies tapping into my lived experience as a former patient and carer. This role pushes me to stretch my comfort zones to the benefit of personal growth, and eventually build my capacity to become a public contributing partner in the research world.”
- Chris Pavlakis, patient and public involvement member, King’s Improvement Science
KIS was set up in 2013. From the start, KIS set aside budget to fund patient and public involvement (PPI) activities. This included employing a PPI coordinator, a dedicated role supporting the involvement of patients, service users, their families and members of the public in KIS work. The creation of the involvement structure, with dedicated public involvement members within KIS, has provided added value to our work and contributed to our mission and vision.
Our approach to involvement builds on a set of principles developed in collaboration with public members in 2017. These principles are shown opposite.
How we are currently involving local people
- Public members on KIS projects are invited to a monthly meeting where they are informed about the progress on projects. There are also informed about the KIS steering group plans, which is co-chaired by KIS staff and a public member.
- Three public members are currently appointed on the KIS Partnership Steering Group, where they are invited to report to KIS senior partners on the PPI activities KIS is currently undertaking.
- Public members contribute to research team meetings, supported by the PPI co-ordinator and have been part of staff recruitment panels.
- Public members were involved in co-designing our public event: The Value of Partnering with the Public to Improve Health Services
- Public members write blogs for the website and content for visual abstracts (summaries) of research projects
- They also receive training in research methods and carry out research within project teams.
For further information on public members’ involvement in projects see the project pages.
Involving members of the public in KIS strategic and operational meetings
In November 2020, KIS initiated a process to recruit members of the public interested in contributing to the strategic and operational work of the KIS team. Following applications and interviews, three members of the public were recruited – Helen Cherry, Mel Getty and John O’Toole, all of whom are experienced in patient and public involvement in research.
During a three-month pilot starting in January 2021, the three PPI members attended bi-monthly KIS team meetings, which have been held virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions.
A review towards the end of the pilot highlighted:
- Positive learning focused on the value of shared knowledge with a mixed-skills base
- A balance between meaningful PPI contribution at the strategic level as well as in relation to the KIS research projects, timelines, deliverables and outcomes.
Following this positive review, there was mutual agreement to continue involving PPI members in KIS meetings.
Find out more about involvement at KIS:
- Please email Erin Letbe-Holder and Fiona Hackett KIS PPI coordinators with any questions at kis_involvement@kcl.ac.uk.
- Meet the patient and public members
- Read about our event: The value of partnering with the public to improve health services
- Read a blog: Finding your community through involvement in research
- Read a blog: Using our lived experience to inform research on rheumatoid arthritis remote monitoring
- KIS Advice about Patient and Public Involvement
Signing up:
The mailing list is aimed at anyone who lives or uses health and / or social care services in south London or who cares for someone who does (eg as a friend, family member or paid carer). It is also open to anyone interested in keeping in touch with KIS and our involvement activities.
How will my personal information be stored?
Your personal information (name, email address and phone number) will be processed and stored in a password-protected file only accessible to the PPI coordinator and viewable to administrative staff, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list at any point, please email:
