What is PPI?
Patients and the public are at the heart of everything we do at the Leicester Kidney Lifestyle Team. We need patients and families to help guide our research, so we can make a vital difference. Patient and public involvement (PPI) allows patients to have their say on the research being done, it is “research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them.” It is not necessary for you to understand kidney disease or have any level of scientific knowledge, just your own experiences.
What are we doing in Leicester?
During the summer of 2018 we established a newly formed PPI group to help advise us on our research. We ran two information days in Leicester and Hinckley for patients and their relatives to find out more.
What will I be expected to do?
By joining our PPI group, you are not committed to do everything, the level of commitment varies depending on how much time you have and what type of activities you are interested in. Some activities might involve a meeting at the hospital, others could be reading documents at home and providing feedback.
The different activities you may get involved with:
Actively help set research priorities
Review projects in terms of their design protocol and acceptability
Advise on patient-facing documents (e.g., new information booklet for primary care)
Help us prepare better lay summaries
Become co-applicants on grant and funding proposals
Help interpret research findings and results
Help us disseminate our findings at meetings and conferences
I am interested in helping, what do I do?
Please contact us, and we will get back in touch with you when we can.
Alternatively, you can find more information about PPI on the National Institute for Health and Care Research pages: ‘Be Part of Research’ and ‘I Want to Help With Research’.
