First regional virtual PPIE event deemed “great success”
‘Beyond COVID-19: New directions for Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research in the Midlands’, an event organised by the Midlands Health Alliance (MHA) took place in March 2021 with over 250 registrations.
The event brought together individuals from across the region to learn about the latest developments in PPIE, share ideas and best practice for such areas including empowering PPI representatives, plan for the future and to network. All the sessions were designed to both share and improve PPIE practices to bring together professionals and representatives from across the region. All sessions had extensive discussion amongst attendees.
“The first event that brought together the Midlands PPIE community was a great success with almost 250 registrations. It was great to see attendees engaging with the sessions facilitated by professionals and representatives from the across the region with a lot of interesting discussion taking place. The MHA felt that it was important to bring this community together as PPIE is a very important part of developing health research and due to the success of the first event we look forward to co-ordinating more in the future.”
MHA's Operations Manager Lois Daniels
The first day started off with Zoë Gray, Associate Director of Involvement, Engagement and Participation at the NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination, known for shaping services and research as the key note speaker.
Other sessions included;
- ‘An Introduction to PPIE’ where the role of patients and members of the public participating in research studies was explained and discussed
- ‘Involving children and young people in research: Adapting to the virtual world’ which explored how the COVID-19 pandemic led to the standard methodology for involving and engaging the Young Persons Advisory Groups (YPAG) in healthcare research becoming redundant. The session shared the YPAG initiatives that the pandemic catalysed, barriers faced, and lessons learnt.
- ‘Impact – The art of counting bees’ which looked at the basics of measuring impact and the role of evaluation in PPIE.
- ‘Approaches to Co-production in Health and Social Care’ introducing us to the key principles and values of co-production in research.
- ‘Creative approaches – From ticking the box to outside the box’ that explored the use of arts-based methods and how they challenge the system in which the industry works.
- ‘Diversity and Inclusion: PPI with BAME communities’ talking about some of the do’s and don’t’s when undertaking PPI with BAME communities.
- ‘Public Co-Applicants: Equal members of the research team’, a discussion about how there is still some uncertainty about the role of public co-applicants and what added value they can provide to research teams.
The event ended with the highly anticipated Panel Q&A that featured four experienced representatives from some of the Patient and Public Involvement groups across the region.
All session recordings can now be accessed here.