Patients and the Public
Patients and the Public
Help shape our research
We want to improve our clinical research processes, our research participants’ experiences and make sure that our trials and studies provide maximum benefit to people’s health – to do this, we need your help.
Involving people in our clinical research is about more than asking them to take part in a trial or study. Volunteers also help to shape our clinical research activities – what we do and how we do it – and we call this Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE). This includes:
- meeting up to discuss ideas for clinical research trials and studies
- reviewing clinical research information sheets
- feeding back ideas on how to promote clinical research trials and studies and their results
- helping us identify research priorities
- taking part in a clinical research trial or study steering group
We work with a range of people to shape our clinical research activities, including people with experience of a particular condition (as a patient, family member or carer), people who have already taken part in a trial or study, and those who have an interest in clinical research.
Taking part as a volunteer
Many of our clinical trials and research studies aim to involve healthy volunteers – people who are interested in contributing towards research but are generally healthy or do not have the condition or disease being investigated.
Healthy volunteers help researchers better understand a variety of health conditions as their information can be compared with people who have a specific disease or condition.
We have a database of healthy volunteers and send information about trials and studies they might be able to take part in. If you would like to join this database please contact us by email at crc-recruitment@surrey.ac.uk, or phone 0800 269 847.
Taking part as a patient
If you are a patient at one of our hospitals, you may be invited to take part in a study or trial. It is up to you whether you wish to get involved or not. If you decide not to participate, it will not affect your treatment in any way.
If you are interested in taking part, speak with your doctor or talk to one of our research nurses to see if there are any studies or trials you are eligible to join.
You can also search for a trial or study currently recruiting patients through the NIHR's Be Part of Research programme.
Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement Strategy
The NIHR Royal Surrey CRF is committed to being a leader in Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPIE).
We have published a PPIE strategy, and encourage all of our participants, partners and colleagues to read it and hold us to account.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is central to our mission at the NIHR Royal Surrey CRF.
Our EDI strategy is a public document, that we encourage all of our participants, partners and colleagues to read. It outlines what EDI means in the context of clinical research, and why it is important to us at the CRF.