Involving members of the public to ensure our work made a difference
At King’s Improvement Science (KIS), we worked closely with people who had personal experience of using health and social care services in south London, or caring for someone who did.
This was a priority for KIS – to involve people who use health and care services and ensure that our research considered local and national requirements informed by people with first-hand knowledge and experience of services. This ensured our research delivered positive impact.
We aspired to improve public involvement activity by learning how we could 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 pushed 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, KIS patient and public involvement member
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, provided added value to our work and contributed to our mission and vision.
Our approach to involvement built on a set of principles developed in collaboration with public members in 2017. These principles are shown opposite.
How we involved local people
- Public members on KIS projects were invited to a monthly meeting where they were informed about the progress on projects. They were also informed about the KIS steering group plans, which was co-chaired by KIS staff and a public member.
- Three public members were appointed on the KIS Partnership Steering Group, where they were invited to report to KIS senior partners on the PPI activities KIS was undertaking.
- Public members contributed to research team meetings, supported by the PPI co-ordinator and were 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 wrote blogs for the website and content for visual abstracts (summaries) of research projects
- They also received training in research methods and carried 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 were experienced in patient and public involvement in research.
