What are we trying to do?
This project aims to explore public views of the terms ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’ and ‘family doctor’, which are concepts central to the new NHS reforms. The project will also evaluate a new participatory role for public contributors as peer co-researchers, who will help design and deliver a survey to gather these views. We will reflect on how public contributors can move beyond advisory roles to actively shape and do research. We will explore the value of peer co-research delivered surveys by comparing the survey sample diversity with other established survey methods.

 

Why is this important?
It is important that the public understand and know what to expect from new NHS reforms. If policy language is not clear, the public may have different expectations to what is delivered. This can lead to mistrust and dissatisfaction. One way to check understanding is through public consultations. But these often fail to engage diverse communities, who might all have different views. This project aims to address the gap by doing public consultation differently by working with peer co-researchers and focusing on equality, diversity, and inclusion. 

 

How are we doing it?
Using a participatory action research approach, the study will bring together established public contributors across PRIMER (Primary care Research in Manchester Engagement Resource), PSRC (Patient Safety Research Collaboration), and ARC-GM (Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester) to design, conduct, and analyse the results of the survey and reflect on the strengths and challenges of the new peer co-researcher role. The seven steps are as follows:
1.    Workshop: Understanding public contributor roles. (Identification)
2.    Workshop: Co-designing the survey. (Planning)
3.    Workshop: Training for delivering the survey. (Planning)
4.    Conducting the survey. (Action)
5.    Workshop: Survey data analysis. (Evaluation and reflection)
6.    Navigating university bureaucracy. (Reflection)
7.    Workshop: Making sense of the process (Reflection)

 

Who are we working with?

• Public contributors from PRIMER, PSRC, ARC-GM panels, and ARC-GM Community Research Champions (CRCs).
• VCFSE (Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise) organisations such as Awakening Minds and Wai Yin Society.
• University of Manchester researchers and managers supporting these groups.
• We will work with Policy@Manchester to share findings of the survey with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care.

 

More information

 

 

Programme Manager

 

Alison Littlewood

alison.j.littlewood@manchester.ac.uk