Update on Patient and Public Involvement
The Patient and Public Involvement platform has been busy continuing to support researchers across the Centre, and we hope to continue offering unique ways to support researcher and patient collaborations.
At our Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2016, we were fortunate to have eight members from our Patient Advisory Group in attendance. During the busy two days, they had the opportunity to provide feedback to researchers during a lunchtime session, as well as hear more about the work going on across the Centre. They highlighted the need for more work to be done for researchers to understand what patients need and want from digital health support. They were also extremely positive about the research being carried out and expressed their thanks to all involved.
Our patient volunteers continue to collaborate with researchers on a broad range of topics. Recent examples include: attending at a workshop to discuss findings from a systematic review identifying risk factors for exacerbations (Pinnock, Buelo, McClean), helping revise the lay summary for a CSO grant application, providing suggestions for our new Centre website, and contributing to the PhD affiliation approval process. We are also currently collaborating with a number of researchers to support their Asthma UK Fellowship applications.
PPI Lead Elisabeth Ehrlich introduced a seminar at the BTS Winter meeting on the patient view of personalised medicine. Her talk was very well received; you can see her in action in the photo below. Olivia Fulton has been interviewed for a book entitled Healthcare Heroes, launched in early February. AUKCAR PPI members are our healthcare heroes!
Finally, we held a very successful Patient Involvement Fair! The event was co-developed and co-facilitated by patient volunteers, with Derek Stewart OBE delivering an inspiring keynote presentation. The Patient Involvement Fair provided an excellent opportunity for discussion between researchers, healthcare professionals and patients - see the below photographs that capture so well the atmosphere of the day. Thank you to all who attended and contributed!
You can continue to get support over email, or meet our patient volunteers in person through our Researcher Discussion Series. For more information about patient involvement, please contact Melissa.Goodbourn@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 4617.
