Background
We are working with Health Innovation Manchester to ensure that the voices of local people are at the heart of all we do. To reflect this ambition, we have established a substantial Public and Community Involvement and Engagement Panel (PCIE) which brings together 18 local people from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Panel members also bring a range of skills, knowledge and lived experience to our portfolio of applied research.
Panel members were recruited in a variety of ways, but this included reaching out to connect with under-represented communities and marginalised groups so that the panel could be representative of some of the diverse communities of Greater Manchester (GM). Like the wider population, panel members are also NHS patients and care users, and often have experienced their own health problems. This lived experience is enabling us to better understand how to support people living with long term conditions.
How the Panel Contribute:
Relationships are key to meaningful involvement and engagement and panel members often have connections to other grass roots community groups, charities and other valuable networks.
Community Champions
Our core panel also act as Community Champions providing links to multiple voluntary and community groups enabling us to be more inclusive and involve and engage seldom heard and marginalised groups. This really adds value and some of the connections and lived experience that panel members bring including their links to: