Patient and Public involvement (PPI) is where research and work are carried out 'with' or 'by' members of the public rather than on their behalf by researchers. It means that patients or other people with relevant experience contribute to how research is designed, conducted, and disseminated.
At King’s Clinical Research Facility, anyone can express an interest in joining our PPI network. By joining our network, you will be added to our mailing list, and you will receive emails about opportunities for involvement. This may include:
- Asking you for your opinion on a document or leaflet.
- Letting you know about an upcoming event you may wish to attend.
- Asking you to contribute your ideas to a specific research project or piece of work.
For some involvement opportunities we email about, we may require specific experience (for example, the experience of being a Type 1 diabetic or being a carer for an individual with a specific health condition). Sometimes we may be limited in the number of people we can offer the opportunity to. This will always be clear in the email, and we’d encourage you to respond and apply if interested. We know it can be disappointing if you’re not offered a particular opportunity, however, we hope this will not stop you from applying for other opportunities as they arise, which you may be eligible for.
For most involvement opportunities, we offer payment for your time (please see our FAQ section here). We aim to accommodate individual needs and preferences. This may include providing documents in different formats. If you’d like to talk to us about what reasonable adjustments we can make to facilitate your involvement please get in touch with us via the PPI Lead Cat Harvey catherine.harvey15@nhs.net.
To find out more about what it is like to be a PPI member, please read below:
"I found PPI during the COVID lock-down and I emailed a member of staff about the potential for a clinical trial in the future, having done many of these voluntarily in the past.
I received an email back with great guidance and support about both clinical trials and a new area for me, PPI. I signed up to a PPI network and I quickly became involved. I didn’t know if I was worthy at the time even though I'd been involved in clinical trials and knew how it all worked from that end, this was being involved from another side.
I remember being nervous the first few times I joined a meeting online, however it's basically listening and giving your own opinion whilst respecting everyone else’s.
Since then it has completely taken off, I've been reviewing documents for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), I’ve been on selection panels with the NIHR and I’ve been involved in a large European project. Some projects span over several years and you can get involved in all sorts of ways."
- Joanne, PPI member
To find out about our longer-term ambitions for PPI at King’s Clinical Research Facility, please read our Strategy here
