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Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement

For our research to have a real impact on improving care in Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and the wider NHS, we need the involvement and insight of service users and carers.

In M-RIC, we have a dedicated patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) team. They bring together service users, carers, third sector representatives, researchers,  healthcare professionals and industry experts with the aim of improving the outcomes of our research.

Why is PPIE important in mental health research?

Service users and carers provide invaluable support to our research by sharing their lived experience and insight and looking at our research plans through a different lens. This is vital to help widen the perspective of our mental health researchers and clinicians. They can raise seemingly simple yet essential questions and offer insights based on their personal experiences as users of mental health services and treatments.

How does PPIE work in M-RIC?

We have recruited 10 service user and carer representatives and over 30 public advisors to support our research.

• Service user and carer representatives are a vital part of our research teams. They attend regular meetings and take part in planning, discussions, engagement, and decision making. They started their roles earlier this year following a widespread campaign in to recruit service users and carers who can fairly represent the diverse communities and groups across Liverpool
• .Public advisors are a larger pool of service users, carers, third sector representatives and members of the public with an interest in research. They support M-RIC by contributing their ideas and views at meetings, workshops and events and through bespoke projects.

Some of our M-RIC service user and carer representatives and public advisors