Using the UK standards for public involvement to evaluate the public involvement sections of annual reports from NIHR managed research centres.

WHAT DID WE DO?: Within the United Kingdom (UK) the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the largest funder of health and social care research. The NIHR also funds research centres that support the delivery of research studies. Each year, award-holders of these research centres are required to write a report describing their activities. These reports include activities related to Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE). We aimed to evaluate the PPIE sections of these reports to identify best practice and challenges. This could, in turn, inform and aid researchers to enhance their PPIE approaches and improve how they work with the public in research. HOW DID WE DO IT?: We looked at 112 reports using the six UK Standards for Public Involvement (these include: 'Inclusive opportunities', 'Working together', 'Support and learning', 'Communications', 'Impact' and 'Governance'). We used a quality improvement framework named 'Insights' to categorise PPIE practice into one of four levels of increasing quality: 'Welcoming', 'Listening', 'Learning' and 'Leading'. WHAT ARE THE FINDINGS?: PPIE activities, of varying quality, covered all six UK Standards. A number of award-holders either intended, or were actively working towards, increasing access and inclusivity of public involvement opportunities. Methods of working with public contributors were varied. Most award-holders offered support and learning opportunities for both PPIE members and staff. Some award-holders invited PPIE members to co-produce communication plans relating to study materials and research findings. The impact of public involvement was described in terms of benefits to PPIE members themselves, and on a project and award-holder level. Many award-holders reported inviting public contributors to share decision-making within and about governance structures. WHAT'S THE BIGGER PICTURE?: This evaluation identified that the Insights framework was useful in determining the quality of PPIE activities relating to each UK Standard. Recommendations for improving the quality of future PPIE activities were co-developed with staff from different research centres, senior leaders within the NIHR, PPIE leads and public contributors.