Fuse joins public involvement pledge

Fuse and a host of health and social care organisations across the UK have come together in a bid to improve public involvement in research.

Fuse has signed up to the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research. The Shared Commitment aims to bring about changes, which will drive up standards in health and social care research.

By becoming a partner, Fuse demonstrates its commitment to placing public involvement and engagement at the heart of its research activities. Fuse values public involvement and engagement as a vital part of its mission to get high-quality research into the world to improve people's health.

The public voice - which includes service users, carers, advocates, communities and the wider public - influences our work by helping us to: 

• Prioritise areas of research
• Better understand how to deliver research
• Better interpret research findings and results
• Improve how research findings and results are shared

Together, our organisations and members fund, support and regulate health and social care research. This statement is our joint commitment to improve the extent and quality of public involvement across the sector so that it is consistently excellent.

Public involvement is important, expected and possible in all types of health and social care research.

People have the right to be involved in all health and social care research. Excellent public involvement is an essential part of health and social care research and has been shown to improve its quality and impact. People’s lived experiences should be a key driver for health and social care research.

Good quality public involvement is inclusive, values all contributions and ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens and influences outcomes, as set out in the UK Standards for Public Involvement.

Working together with a growing partnership of organisations, Fuse will support the research community to carry out excellent public involvement. We will provide or share guidance, policies, systems, and incentives. We will: 

• Listen to and learn from the people and communities we involve and apply and share that learning
• Build and share the evidence of how to involve the public and the impact this has
• Support improvements in equality, diversity, and inclusion in public involvement
• Promote the UK Standards for Public Involvement

We will embed this commitment into the decision-making processes of Fuse.

Find out more about Fuse and Public Involvement and Engagement or email Fuse Public Involvement and Engagement Manager: eleanor.anderson@ncl.ac.uk.

Find out why the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research was launched: Why we launched the Shared Commitment - Health Research Authority (hra.nhs.uk)

You can read more about the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement here: Putting people first - embedding public involvement in health and social care research - Health Research Authority (hra.nhs.uk)

Find out more about our Shared Commitment partners and what they do by clicking on the links below: 

• The Academy of Medical Sciences
• The Association of Medical Research Charities
• The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
• Bristol Health Partners
• Cancer Research UK
• Cochrane
• Health and Care Research Wales
• Health and Social Care Northern Ireland
• Health Data Research UK
• Health Foundation
• Health Research Authority
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
• National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement
• National Institute for Health and Care Research
• National Institute for Health and Care Research Innovation Observatory
• NHS England
• NHS Research Scotland
• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England
• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria
• The Patient's Association
• Universities UK
• UK Research and Innovation

Last modified: Mon, 13 May 2024 13:57:22 BST