Abstract

Public and patient involvement (PPI) is the practice of working or co-creating in collaboration or partnership with patients, carers, service users or the public. 

Depending on where you are in the world, PPI is called different things, such as ‘patient engagement’, ‘patient involvement’, ‘patient participation’ or ‘patient partnership’ and the term is sometimes perceived to be as vague as the concept. This lack of a harmonised definition creates confusion and ambiguity around what PPI is. In essence, PPI embeds co-creation, co-design and co-production at the heart of all endeavours, whether in the research, academia, healthcare, service development, policy-making or industry spaces. True PPI is where outputs are guided by the gaps identified by the patient community, where all stakeholders are viewed as equal partners and where the guiding principles of respect, inclusivity, support, learning, transparency and impact are adhered to.

This article gives an overview of the role of the public and patients across research, academia, healthcare and industry, through a lens of personal experience.