Public & Patient Involvement
The Elevate team will work closely with members of the public and patients in rural and coastal areas to ensure that the outputs of the research directly reflect their needs and give a voice to their communities.
Patient and public involvement (PPI) is essential to the Elevate UEC study. PPI ensures that we will address the real needs and priorities of the communities we aim to investigate. These areas often face unique challenges, such as limited access to healthcare services, higher levels of social isolation, and geographic barriers that are not always well understood by researchers based in urban centres. By involving local patients and members of the public, researchers can design studies that are more relevant, culturally appropriate, and practical for implementation in emergency departments and urgent care centres.
PPI will enhance the communication of findings to policy makers, NHS Trusts, and other researchers ensuring that a community voice and oversight has been taken into account throughout. This ultimately supports better health outcomes and more effective policy recommendations. Below we highlight some of the ways we are involving local rural coastal communities in our work.
If you are interested in being involved in our research, please contact us.
Our Approach to Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)
Codesign
Community groups have been pivotal in the application process and in informing the design of the study and will remain actively involved, ensuring the study reflects local priorities and patient feedback.
Ongoing Involvement
Our plans for involving patients and members of the public in our research have been designed by a rural coastal community in the North of England - Scarborough. The community suggested that to engage with a diverse range of people we need to “take our research into the community” rather than relying on the community coming to us.
Community Groups
Throughout our project we will regularly obtain advice from existing local community groups in rural and coastal communities. This community-based approach will ensure our research addresses issues that are important to and inclusive of people living in rural coastal communities.
Interviews and Questionnaires
We will talk to patients and staff within EDs and other UEC services (e.g. the ambulance service). This will give us a detailed understanding of how different ways of providing UEC can affect people, health and care services and local areas, directly from those involved in it.