Our commitment to public involvement
In October 2024, McPin joined other health, research and social care bodies in a pledge to improve public involvement in research. The Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research statement, developed by the HRA (Health Research Authority) with people with lived experience, research participants and leaders in health and social care research, will ensure public involvement is embedded across the health and social care research system.
How we work is as important as the topics we focus on so at McPin we’re determined to push for inclusive public involvement in research that focusses on lived-experience voices and epistemic justice.
McPin was set up to champion and develop public involvement in research and so it is a natural step for us to join the shared commitment community and add our expertise, commitment to innovation, and efforts behind this collaboration.
Our statement
We commit to:
- Supporting two lived experience partners to represent McPin, and be part of the active and influential Shared Commitment to Public Involvement Group to hold all partner organisations to account to deliver our shared and individual commitments.
- Regularly review and co-produce our individual commitments to public involvement with our two lived experience partners alongside our staff and trustees as we continue to learn, grow and develop as an organisation.
- Championing lived experience expertise and leadership, and supporting everyone we work with in their roles through appropriate training and development.
- Ensuring lived-experience partners are central to all our work from inception to dissemination as they are key to transforming and improving health and social care research and outcomes.
- Growing and diversifying our networks of lived experience partners and creating accessible, equitable ways to increase public involvement and leadership in health and social care research, with a focus on previously underrepresented groups and/or those new to public involvement and research.
- Working with respect and mutuality, learning from challenges to establish and maintain high quality, trusting relationships with everyone we work with.
- Continue to generate and share knowledge on public involvement, co-production and peer research approaches and best practice that is influential and impactful, through training, building learning communities and innovative communications.
- Work collaboratively with the growing partnership of organisations in HRA shared commitment to drive forward embedding public involvement in health and social care research.
What is the shared commitment?
The statement, signed by leaders at each organisation, reads:
Public involvement is important, expected and possible in all types of health and social care research.
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.
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.
When we talk about public involvement, we mean all the ways in which the research community works together with people including patients, carers, advocates, service users, and members of the community. Excellent public involvement is inclusive, values all contributions, ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens and influences outcomes, as set out in the UK Standards for Public Involvement.
Working together we 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 our organisations.
In the last 10 years McPin has sought to innovate and learn from others over how to best deliver public involvement, peer research, and coproduction in research.
Vanessa Pinfold, Research director and co-founder
“The McPin Foundation is looking forward to working with others in the shared commitment partnership to continue to develop public involvement in health and social research, building upon over 30 years of lived experience leadership in mental health research from across the sector. In the last 10 years McPin has sought to innovate and learn from others over how to best deliver public involvement, peer research, and coproduction in research across different contexts, topics, research methods, timescales and budgets. Our work is all focused on how lived experience expertise and the knowledge generated from working with experiential expertise can transform research findings and processes. We look forward to improving our practices and knowledge base alongside organisations across the health and social care sectors including universities, funders and regulators”
We champion lived experience expertise and leadership in everything we do and ensure this is at the heart of all our work from inception to dissemination.
Laura Anstey, McPin trustee, our executive sponsor in this commitment and chief of Staff NHS North East London
“I am delighted McPin is part of the shared commitment to embedding public involvement in health and social care research. McPin truly believes research is done best when it involves people with relevant experience related to the research we are carrying out. We champion lived experience expertise and leadership in everything we do and ensure this is at the heart of all our work from inception to dissemination. This approach is key to transforming and improving health and social care research and outcomes. I am really pleased McPin will be able to share its learning and good practice with others and equally learn from other colleagues in the sector so that together we can deliver the highest quality health and social care research, including creating meaningful change in mental health”