Find out more about the work we do
The professional bodies that accredit our health and social care courses say that the public must be involved in the design, delivery and review of courses that lead to professional registration. Similar requirements mean that the public must also be involved in designing and steering health or social care research. This includes people who describe themselves as patients, service users, carers, survivors, community champions, citizens, family members, in recovery, or living with a disability. For the sake of convenience, and so that everyone knows what we mean, we refer simply to service user and carer involvement.
Involvement in Learning and Teaching
Members of the public involved in teaching and learning share their experiences to help students understand the differing needs and expectations of people they will be working with, which enables them to develop the right values, knowledge, and attitudes to support people.
Working alongside academic experts, experienced practice partners, and other PPG members, you can help students to think about how they might support someone in a similar situation. You may be asked to give feedback to individual students about how their communication style makes you feel.
PPG members are involved in:
• Classroom teaching and learning
• Recruitment and selection of students
• Course development and management
• Practice simulation and role playing
• Being interviewed by students
• Skills sessions
The main teaching programmes that PPG members are currently involved in
are:
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Child Nursing
• Midwifery
• Mental Health Nursing
• Social Work
• Learning Disability Nursing
• Occupational Therapy
• Paramedic Practice
• Adult (General) Nursing
• Physiotherapy
• Podiatry
• Operating Department Practice
• Optometry
• Pharmacy
Involvement in Research
Rather than being a participant in research (for instance, being asked questions about your health), PPG members can get involved in an aspect of co-designing or steering a research project. This will require you to have some specific personal experiences in the area being researched. For example, you might be asked to help design the information sheets about a research project given to those members of the public who are potential participants, ensuring that the information can be easily understood by people from a variety of backgrounds.
It does not matter if you have never done some of these things before and there is no pressure to join any activity you feel uncomfortable about. Support and guidance are always provided by the involvement team.