Patient Bridge Role: a new approach for patient and public involvement in healthcare research programmes

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research involves an active collaboration between patients/members of the public and researchers in equal partnership. PPI in health research ensures the research benefits those most impacted by the research and is a well-established necessity of high-quality research. PPI for large programmes of work involving multiple studies frequently relies on a single PPI group that oversees the entire programme. We believe that this 'traditional' approach can negatively contribute to the power imbalance between researchers and PPI members, since PPI members have a very wide remit and are unable to embed themselves fully in all aspects of the research.

The study aimed to evaluate a novel PPI approach, the 'Patient Bridge Role', designed to promote a more equal distribution of power between public collaborators and researchers in a large research programme. The Patient Bridge Role involves assigning specific public collaborators to each work package, facilitating deeper engagement and communication.

The Patient Bridge Role addresses the limitations of traditional PPI. This approach requires clear role definitions and collaborative development of guidelines to ensure effective communication and shared decision-making. Despite initial challenges related to role clarity and boundaries, the Patient Bridge Roles successfully promoted a more balanced partnership between researchers and public collaborators.

Active partnerships between public collaborators and researchers are critical to creating more relevant and higher quality research. Yet, there are many practical and conceptual barriers to this. The Patient Bridge Role offers a promising strategy for enhancing PPI in large research programmes.