Framework for research governance in Wales establishes the importance of Involving People in health and social care research

The second edition of the Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care in Wales indicates that: "relevant patients, carers, service users and their representative groups should be involved wherever possible and as early as possible in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of research. Social care research has a long tradition of involving them."

The framework also explicitly mentions the Involving People project: "Cynnwys Pobl: Involving People, the patient, service user and carer involvement research network for Wales, has established the principle that at least two representatives should be involved in health and social care research."

Judith Oades, Chair of the Involving People Advisory Group said "Involving People works with researchers, practitioners and patients, service users, carers and members of the public to enable people to become actively involved in research from the earliest stages rather than being passive participants. We are delighted to be mentioned in the framework document that sets the standards for good governance and champions the involvement of people "wherever possible" and "as early as possible" in the research process. We feel it will lead to greater involvement which in turn will improve the standard of research in Wales and its effectiveness in improving treatment and services for people in Wales"

To date, Involving People has made over 300 referrals of network members (patients, service users, carers and members of the public) for involvement in over 50 different research activities.

The framework can be downloaded from http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dhss/publications/governance/090929researchen.pdf

Funded by the Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care (WORD), Involving People is a partnership between Clinical Research Collaboration Cymru (CRC Cymru), Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and School of Health Science, Swansea University. For more information, check the Involving People website at www.involvingpeople.org.uk or contact Lynne Thomas on 029 20 431771 or e-mail lthomas@wcva.org.uk