Patient and public involvement in health research

Over the last 10-15 years, patient and public involvement (PPI) has become an established theme within UK health research policy, with PPI being recognised as an essential force in the drive to improve the quality of services and research. These developments have been particularly rapid in the cancer field, where there have been many initiatives to promote PPI in research. PPI in research can be conceptualised as, “doing research ‘with’ or ‘by’ the public, rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ the public”.