Training

There are no prerequisites to become a public contributor for primary care research beyond having an interest in primary care research. Each of the School’s members has a local PPI lead who will be able to support you and make you aware of any local training opportunities.

There are various organisations who provide online training to strengthen the public’s skills and knowledge on patient and public involvement:

The Centre for Engagement and Dissemination, part of the National Institute for Health Research, supports active public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research. They have developed a course for new and experienced public contributors on public reviews of research documents and grant applications.

The European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI) is a pan-European collaboration between European patient organisations, universities and not-for-profit organisations and a number of European pharmaceutical companies. EUPATI focuses on education and training to increase the capacity and capability of patients and carers to understand and contribute to medicines research and development and additionally improve the availability of objective, reliable, patient-friendly information for the public.

The European Patient Ambassador Programme has been developed to strengthen the skills of patients and carers to be a patient representative. It covers topics varying from involvement with research and development to working with the media and improving public awareness.