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Your HRA Public Involvement Newsletter
Issue 29, April 2025
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Welcome
Hello everyone and welcome to your public involvement newsletter. To subscribe and to see previous issues of the newsletter, please visit the HRA website.
You can view the newsletter as a webpage. Click on the link at the top of this newsletter and zoom in using the ‘Ctrl’ and the ‘+’ symbols.
For support with this, or if you need the newsletter in a different format, you can read our guidance, email the public involvement team at public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk or call on 0207 104 8161.
If there is something you'd like to include, or learn more about, do let us know.
In this month's edition:
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In this section, we give a short update on some of the involvement activity we have in progress and share new invitations to get involved in our work.
We now have an early working draft of our new strategy!
We've been listening to and learning from people, groups and organisations involved in and impacted by our work to define what we are going to do over the next three years.
Now we are looking for 3 to 4 members of the public to help us fine-tune the words we use, and to plan how we launch and share our 2025 - 28 strategy.
Activities will take place online between April and July 2025, with feedback and update meetings in August and November 2025. Our website has more detail on what's involved, dates, skills and experience needed, and payments offered.
If you need this information in a different format, or have any questions, please email the public involvement team or call on 0207 104 8161.
The deadline for applications is 12pm on 15 April 2025.
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In this section, we aim to respond to one of the questions we're asked the most – how has our work improved things for other people?
During March, we celebrated the third anniversary of the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement, a partnership between members of the public and organisations from across health and social care research.
26 public contributors from 32 organisations champion this initiative by supporting organisations to deliver on their commitments.
What this looks like in practice:
- quarterly 'learning and sharing' meetings co-chaired by public contributors and attended by everyone involved in the Shared Commitment
- regular meetings between public contributors and the organisation they support to review progress
- monthly delivery group meetings to steer the wider initiative
To mark the third anniversary, senior leaders from each organisation wrote blogs and shared news of achievements and ambitions.
Our Chief Executive, Matt Westmore, blogged about how public involvement continues to shape the HRA's own work, and reflected on our collective responsibilities to work together meaningfully and impactfully:
"Together we are raising awareness of the importance of public involvement and creating consistent expectations across the system. Now we can work together to ensure that the involvement is done well."
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In this section, we share news about some of the HRA’s work that we think you may be interested in. You might also enjoy exploring the news and updates section of the HRA website.
Why we analysed our data
The HRA made a commitment in our 2022 – 2025 strategy to push for change to increase public involvement in research. We wanted to know the levels of public involvement in 2023. We'll use this information to help us measure the future impact of our collective efforts to improve the extent and quality of public involvement across the sector.
What we did
We analysed a sample of applications that received a favourable opinion between January and December 2023 from Research Ethics Committees (REC), to see what information was provided on public involvement.
What we found
74% of the studies we reviewed told us they had actively involved, or would involve, patients, service users, carers, or other members of the public.
Levels of public involvement varied between different kinds of study, and whether the study was commercial or not.
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In this section, we share news of activities organised by other groups or organisations. To find out more about the activity, please contact the organisers directly.
To include a news item relating to public involvement in health or social care research, please email the public involvement team.
NIHR fund, enable and deliver world-leading health and social care research that improves people's health and wellbeing, and promotes economic growth.
NIHR has set out five new strategic commitments for public partnerships:
- embed research inclusion
- strengthen partnerships
- improve reward and recognition
- require feedback
- strengthen capacity and capability
Specific actions include:
- developing guidance for the remuneration and recognition of community engagement activities
- introducing a new requirement for research funded by NIHR programmes to report on patient and public involvement in research outputs
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In this section, we provide information on the HRA, our people, and the other organisations we work alongside.
 Yinka Cole, who became a REC member in 2024
In 2024, 884 REC members collectively volunteered 75,000 hours of their time and reviewed almost 4,000 health and social care research studies.
Yinka Cole, a member of Cornwall and Plymouth REC, reflects on her first year in the Research Ethics Service:
"I initially wondered if you need to be an expert in a particular field and have some specific technical or scientific background to be a REC member, given the wide range of studies that are discussed.
However, the committee that I am part of has people from various backgrounds and professions. There are some people with that specialist, medical background, but that is not the case for everyone.
There is a great value in bringing a group of people together with their different experiences and viewpoints."
Yinka writes about why she joined a REC, her first impressions, and what she's learnt so far.
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In response to feedback and enquiries, we have brought together this section with important information for people involved in our work. Let us know if you think we are missing any key information.
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