Patient and Public Involvement in Academic Primary Care

A report on examples of  Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in the UK

I am SAPC’s lead for PPI. This is an important topic in academia to ensure that research remains relevant to the British public and that patients have a say in what researchers work on. On behalf of SAPC, I have been involved in a national project to develop a publication that showcases good examples of PPI in primary care research and provide advice and inspiration to others. Additional members of the project team were patients, researchers, and representatives from research funders and PPI organisations. Over the course of 6 months we sought submissions of examples of PPI in primary care research from universities across the UK and collated these into a document. We worked on various drafts to ensure it was useful and readable. We then launched the document at a number of high-profile conferences in 2014 to ensure it reached the academic and patient community: the National Association Patient Participation, SAPC, National School for Primary Care and INVOLVE.

Download the report

You can read the most up to date version of the document here , though the plan is that the collation of examples will continue and the document be continually updated in future. We are currently collecting feedback on the document, but informally we have received lots of positive comments and a desire for further information on how to ‘do’ PPI well in primary care research. On a personal note, being involved in this project has put me in touch with others across the country that feel as passionately as I do about PPI, which has been useful in helping me develop my own PPI skills. I also feel I have contributed something of worth to the academic primary care and patient community.