We have been contacted by National Institute for Health Research looking for members of the public to become involved in Health Technology Assessment programme. It is a great opportunity for the public and patients to have an input into which research gets funded. They also have opportunities for people to help make decisions on what research questions should be asked and to sit on their funding boards and panels. For further information their website can be found here: nets.nihr.ac.uk/ppi
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) was set up by the Government’s Department of Health to organise NHS research funded by public money. What they do there is fund, manage and commission NHS research; that is, decide what research needs to be done and who the best people would be to do it. They have a strong ethos of public involvement in all their funding processes. In particular they invite members of the public to comment on research applications on topics where they have experience of the condition, treatment or service under study as a patient and/or carer.
They are in constant need of new patients and public contributors to review these research applications and they would like to ask you to support them in this process by recommending or becoming a reviewer for the programme. Managing evaluation research programmes on behalf of NIHR The Health Technology Assessment programme (nets.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/... is managed by NETSCC, HTA as part of the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre at the University of Southampton.
The invitation link is nets.nihr.ac.uk/become-a-re...
Once you have completed the online form their Public Involvement Team they will arrange an informal discussion to clarify the role of the National Institute for Health Research’s Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme . The following webpage gives more information regarding public reviewers: nets.nihr.ac.uk/ppi
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch or contact their lead Debbie Carter on 02380 597484 or by email: D.J.Carter@soton.ac.uk or htarev@soton.ac.uk