Context
Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) in research is integral to NIHR because engaging with the public can improve the quality and impact of research. While the NIHR provides general PPIE guidance, there isn’t any guidance specific to health and care economics. This is important to develop due to the impact of economics on decision making and resource allocation.
Current practice around PPIE in health and care economics research is unclear. It was only in 2022 when the international reporting guidance for health economic evaluations (CHEERS 2022) was updated to include an explicit requirement for health economists to report on PPIE in their research. CHEERS now requires health economists to detail the approach and effect of any public engagement within their economic evaluation [Husereau et al 2022].
Recently, a team made up of economists, PPIE leads, public contributors and an NHS manager were awarded a Team Science award (NIHR306648) on this topic. As part of this award, the team aims to set up a community of practice on patient and public involvement in health and care economics research. We hope to encourage conversations and collaborations on PPIE in health and care economics so that more people are involved and confident in working in this space.
Sub-group session - launch event
This session was convened by Tracey Sach, University of Southampton and Rachel Elliott, University of Manchester.
The session started with a presentation that included Liz Monaghan and Amanda Roberts sharing their journeys as public contributors, a brief introduction to PPIE in health economics by Annie Hawton from the University of Exeter, and a section highlighting existing resources as a way to set out the context in order to promote the group discussions that followed the presentation.
Group discussions
The small group discussions that followed were facilitated by Amanda, Annie, Liz, Rachel, Tracey, Annette Bauer of London School of Economics, Hareth Al-Janabi from University of Birmingham, and Sara McCloskey from University of Southampton.
The group discussions revolved around three key areas, with the overarching goal of starting to develop a strategy for PPIE in health economics research.
These areas were:
- What enables and hinders PPIE in health economics research?
- What are the key priorities for moving PPIE in HE forward?
- How would you like to see a community of practice develop?
Details of the group feedback from the session will be shared in due course.
In response to some of the ideas raised during the discussion, we are working to organise a pre-session on PPIE in health economics research for a future Health Economists Study Group meeting to address some of the areas raised. We are also working to develop a resource to help researchers identify sources of support, funding and people to work with around PPIE.
At the launch of the NIHR Economics Group, we asked sub-group leads and co-leads their thoughts on topics of interest. Annie Hawton gave her opinion on PPIE in health and care economics research.
Future plans
In the longer term, we hope a community of practice will evolve that might involve seminars and a forum for sharing ideas, training for health economist and public members, resources to facilitate meaningful involvement, and opportunities for collaborations to form to undertake research in this area. This initiative will be co-led by Tracey Sach, Rachel Elliott and Annie Hawton.
We also have a committee to support the co-leads that includes the other members of the recently funded Public Involvement in Health Economics Research (Team PIHER) Team Science Award (NIHR306648).
- Committee membership
- Hareth Al-Janabi, University of Birmingham
- Annette Bauer, London School of Economics
- Kate Heneghan-Sykes, University of Southampton
- Rebecca Kandiyali, University of Warwick
- Sara McCloskey, University of Southampton
- Kalpna Mistry, NHS Gloucestershire
- Samuel Perry, University of Birmingham
- Rachel Purtell, leader in PPI and service user
- Phil Ruthen, Public contributor and a Lived Experience Coordinator
- Sophie Staniszewska, University of Warwick
If you are interested in learning more or joining our future community of practice, please contact Tracey Sach.
