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Your HRA Public Involvement newsletter
Edition six, March 2023
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Welcome to the sixth Public Involvement newsletter.
If you’d prefer to receive this as a text document, you can contact Kat or call her on 020 7104 8168.
In this month’s newsletter
- a heads up about working with us to write new guidance for researchers
- read reflections on working together from Derek Stewart and Matt Westmore
- we’re recruiting a new Head of Public Involvement
- a reminder for our Make it Public workshops about transparency in research
- read a blog about our recent planning meeting
- NIHR (National Institute for Health and Social Care Research) are looking for public committee members
- meet Ben Solly, Senior Communications Manager at the HRA
 A photograph from a planning meeting in January 2023 with HRA staff, members of the public and members of Research Ethics Committees
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In this section you can find out about the different ways of working with us.
Help us write new guidance
Advance notice that next month we will invite applications to support work we're doing with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to develop new guidance for researchers on how clinical trials are designed and run.
We will be looking for people to help write two sections of the guidance:
- how to better involve the public in the design and delivery of clinical trials
- how to ensure diverse participation which reflects the population that can benefit from the research
We will need insight from people who have been involved in clinical trials as patients, services users, carers and other members of the public. Or people who have good understanding of the issues surrounding diversity in research.
The work is expected to last at least six months and take place through online meetings and emails.
We will share full details in our April newsletter but until then, you may like to read about the independent review into the UK commercial trials.
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In this section, we aim to respond to one of the questions we are most frequently asked – how has our work improved things for other people?
Working together – some thoughts on the experience of co-chairing
As part of our Make it Public strategy – our campaign to improve the transparency of research – we created a campaign group. It is co-chaired by Prof Matt Westmore, HRA Chief Executive, and Derek Stewart, a public partner. Derek and Matt share their thoughts on the progress the campaign has made recently.
What is Make it Public all about?
Matt and Derek: The #MakeitPublic campaign is, quite simply, all about making it easier to find out what health research is taking place. We want it to be easier to find out about what research you can take part in, be kept informed of the progress of a study and what the research found out. We also want it to be easier to make better use of data and tissue. The campaign group brings together many of the key organisations in research who are working towards greater transparency in research.
How did the co-chairing come about?
Matt: We have achieved a lot in making research more transparent from the perspective of the research community over the last few years, but we have a long way to go from a public perspective. When we created the campaign group in 2020, it just seemed obvious to co-chair meetings with a public partner. Derek has been involved in Make it Public from the beginning, including the development of our transparency strategy that led to the campaign group, and so it was great that he could also do this.
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Derek: I was really pleased to be asked to take on this role. It clearly illustrates HRA’s genuine commitment to public involvement to help drive improvements across all parts of health research.
Why is public involvement so helpful to transparency?
Matt: Setting to one side that it is just the right thing to do, public involvement helps for three reasons. It keeps us grounded on what is important. Our public partners are a constant reminder of what we are seeking to achieve. It gives us access to different ideas. Our public partners have different experiences and perspectives from us. That breadth leads to a diversity of thought that unlocks new ways of thinking about things and new ideas we would never come up with on our own. And finally, they are just good fun to work with.
Derek: I am so impressed with the many layers of the involvement - with two public partners on the campaign group, others involved with the conference planning as well as the patient and public involvement support team and the wider involvement network. This multi-layered and faceted approach makes it so much more robust than a single representative at the table.
What have you learned from co-chairing the group?
Derek and Matt: Planning and preparing together is key along with developing a good working relationship. Pre-meets with the team, with our public partners, talking through who will chair each section of the business are the essential ingredients but a clear purpose helps.
Matt: In terms of chairing, Derek has a very different style of chairing to me. I have learnt a huge amount from him in how to get the best out of a group of people and a meeting. In terms of specifically co-chairing, I don’t think I’m a control freak (!), but I can have a strong view of what I think should happen. Co-chairing is about sharing influence. When you do that with someone you respect and want to learn from it is both grounding and rewarding.
Derek: I have really liked the opportunity to learn from the many other partner organisations and understand aspects of how the HRA works. There are just so many people trying to make a positive difference.
The collaborative approach has been helped by the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement that many of our Make it Public partner organisations have signed.
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In this section, we share news about things we are working on that we think you might be interested in. If you’d like to read more about what we’re currently up to, head to the news and updates section of the HRA website.
We’re looking for a new Head of Public Involvement
The HRA is looking for a new Head of Public Involvement to lead our work to embed public involvement in health and social care research. Could this be you? Or someone you know?
This new full-time role will take over from Jim Elliott who has led the HRA’s public involvement work part-time for the last 10 years. As part of his phased retirement plan, Jim will take up an advisory and project-based role supporting the new Head of Public Involvement.
We’re sharing and circulating the job advert (jobs.nhs.uk) widely, but if you know someone who’d be perfect, do encourage them to look at the job description and contact Becky Purvis, Director of Policy and Partnerships if they have any questions. Becky’s email address is becky.purvis@hra.nhs.uk.
Making decisions about the work we do next year
We'd like to say a big thank you to the three members of the public that attended a meeting in January to help us prioritise our work for the next year.
The meeting is an important part of our decision-making processes and will help ensure the work we are planning is true to our strategy to make it easy to do research that people trust.
Read the blog from our deputy Chief Executive, Karen Williams, to find out more.
 Matt Westmore, HRA Chief Executive, delivering a talk at the business planning meeting in January 2023.
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In this section, we plan to share news of activities organised by other groups or organisations. If you have questions, please get in touch directly with the organisers.
NIHR Public Committee member
NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) is looking for members of the public to help decide which social care and health research projects to fund and prioritise.
You do not need to have a scientific background to help shape research. NIHR is looking for people from all walks of life who have a broad interest in and knowledge of health, social care or actions to improve public health and address health inequalities. There is more information on the NIHR website, or you can email publicrecruitment@nihr.ac.uk.
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In this section of the newsletter, we introduce you to our colleagues and the people we work with.
Introducing… Ben Solly, Senior Communications Manager.
Ben joined the Health Research Authority (HRA) back in September 2022 as Senior Communications Manager.
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What motivated you to work in this field?
I’ve worked in a variety of different NHS roles over the past 11 years and thought I knew the NHS pretty well but had never heard of the HRA! Having worked with the research team at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust I knew that projects needed Research Ethics Committee (REC) approval but had no idea about the process that sat behind that.
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My background is in journalism, and I’m always drawn towards telling a good story that makes a difference. The opportunity to help the HRA tell its story was too good to miss!
What would you like us to know about your work with the HRA?
I’m responsible for the day-to-day running of the communications team, and it’s safe to say every day is different! We work on a variety of different projects, including looking after the HRA’s website, social media channels, intranet (an internal information site for staff), writing newsletters and giving advice to the different teams across the organisation – including working closely with the public involvement team.
What’s really stood out to me since I joined the HRA is the real commitment to public involvement. In my other roles in the NHS organisations were perhaps guilty of talking a good game when it came to involving members of the public, but the HRA really does put people front and centre in all of the work we do.
That’s something that I saw even before my first working day at the HRA. I presented to a panel of members of the public as part of my interview which was a fantastic experience. I recently had the pleasure of being on the other side of that process and working with a member of the public to help recruit to a vacancy in my team. Members of the public bring a whole new perspective and help ensure every angle is considered.
What are the interesting challenges in your work?
The biggest challenge has been trying to understand the complex work that the organisation does. There’s a lot of acronyms to try and remember, but the NHS loves a good acronym and I guess the clue is in the name!
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If anything in this email is unclear or you have questions, please email the public involvement team on public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk or phone the team on 020 7104 8168. |
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