Background
Whilst overall the health and wealth of Leicestershire is relatively good, statistics mask serious health differences within the county. Over 11,000 residents experience the highest levels of disadvantage in the country, over 12,000 children live in poverty and over 32,000 people live in fuel poverty. There are high levels of asthma, cancer, obesity, and diseases of the heart. People living in our poorest areas live about five to six fewer years than those in the richest areas. This inequality is unjust, and we must address it. Research can help us do this.
Leicestershire County Council (LCC) has been awarded funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to establish a Heath Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC). A HDRC brings together local authorities, local universities and local communities to share each others knowledge and expertise. The aim of HDRC is to create a culture in local government where research is built on robust evidence which then influences the way services are delivered. This investment will take our ability to do research to the next level, working with communities to generate more of our own information and using this and existing evidence to improve the services that we provide and inform the council’s strategic priorities.
LCC cannot undertake the HDRC without public engagement and involvement and the support of our wider partners. We aim to ensure that our research evidence is robust and is collaboratively created with our under-served communities (experts by experience). This will ensure that public involvement is at the core of our research and most importantly, relationships between LCC, partners, and under-served communities are strengthened and prioritised, fostering a positive culture change within the organisation.
What is a Public Advisory Group?
A Public Advisory Group is a small group of people from diverse backgrounds who will work alongside HDRC staff members to provide public opinions and views (both positive and negative) of the HDRC project activities.
Purpose of the Public Advisory Group
The public is at the heart of LCC HDRC. We are building a Public Advisory Group to co-produce the HDRC. The group will ask challenging questions, highlight gaps in different areas, and understand how wider societal issues such as education, poverty, housing, planning, transport, and employment influence the health of the communities in Leicestershire. We recognise that communities, public contributors, and the general public are experts by experience, and we want to draw on this expertise to strengthen our approach in research.
Public Advisory Group Vision
We are seeking people who live in Leicestershire County to work with us collaboratively to create our plans, decide how to prioritise areas of research to improve health and wellbeing, and communicate what we have found and done differently. We are looking for eight people, to form our Public Advisory Group. They will work with our research teams across several activities for the project.
These meetings will produce knowledge for use locally and of value nationally to inform and highlight the wider determinants of health in Leicestershire.
Your Role and Responsibilities
Successful appointment as a Public Advisory Group member will come with responsibilities.
- Assist the council in breaking down communication barriers between the public and local authority and partner organisations such as the NHS
- Be respectful of other people’s views
- Build trust with communities
- Share lived experiences to help research development
- Help to include the voices of under-served communities
- Help us to create innovative and creative ways to engage and work with our communities
- Help researchers and Council staff to co-create and prioritise areas of research and training
- Help to identify people/organisations/community groups who have an interest in how the Council provides services
- Be involved in events – Events TBC
- Share our findings, identifying which elements are of interest to the public, especially those under-served by research or services
- Help us shape the structure, and review the content of final reports, papers, conference materials, etc
- Provide constructive and solution-focused feedback to ensure the design and delivery of research are meaningful and impact positively on the wider community
- Attend training sessions provided
- Adhere to GDPR and confidential requirements
- Members must adhere to and promote LCC’s core values: Our core values and how we work: Positivity, Trust and Respect, Flexibility, Openness and
- Transparency
- Demonstrate a commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
- Regularly attend PAG meetings. The frequency and timings as well as whether these will be online, in-person or hybrid are to be decided by group members and the public and community involvement, engagement, and participation lead.
Although we have provided an outline of the PAG members’ roles and responsibilities, regular discussions will be held to update this as we move through the project. We are open to other ideas and thoughts surrounding this role.
Our responsibilities to you
The group will be assigned a named contact person who will support the needs of the group, communications, and ongoing engagement.
The public and community involvement, engagement, and participation lead will:
- Support and answer any questions related to the processes, duties, and responsibilities of the group
- Ensure an inclusive environment and support you with meeting any access needs and learning needs to ensure your full involvement
- Champion Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: We will use the NIHR Race and Equality Framework to recruit a diverse PAG
- Provide you with adequate time and resources to undertake pre-meeting reading and document review
- Keep the group informed and updated on what is happening with the project
- Ensure payment processes are set up and active, and deal with any payment issues
- Provide training to ensure you have a full understanding of what is required
- Listen to and learn from the PAG and apply and share that learning.
- Support improvements in equality
We will create a process to continuously measure the impact of PAG member’s contributions and feedback and will embed these commitments throughout the work of the HDRC.
Duration of role
We expect a commitment of at least 12 months – Start date: July 2024
Payment and expenses
We highly value the time our PAG members give us. PAG members will be paid for their involvement. Payments will vary according to the nature of the activity and the time it takes to complete. For meetings, task and finish groups, HDRC training sessions organised and delivered by LCC, the payment will be £20 per hour. For tasks outside of PAG meetings, which will take no longer than 30 mins including, but not limited to pre-meeting reading, reviewing documents, the payment will be £10. We have used the NIHR payment guidance to help to shape our payment policy. Out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed (e.g. travel costs) based on the Council’s expenses policy. In some cases, payment may not be offered for certain ad hoc activities, and in these cases, we will always be clear before you decide whether you wish to undertake the activity. Please note that payments may impact on benefits received. For further information regarding how public and community involvement payments may affect you, please contact NIHR PublicPartnerships@nihr.ac.uk or call 020 88437117.
Person Specification
Experience
Having some experience/understanding of being involved in research
Knowledge
- An interest, knowledge, or willingness to help the HDRC develop evidence of health-related approaches that improve health inequalities
- Awareness of your local area and its needs
- Knowledge of or an interest in developing an understanding of what research is, how it is done, and how it can contribute to how services are managed and commissioned
Skills
- IT knowledge. Have a basic understanding of IT packages such as Microsoft Word. You will be contacted via email and will be asked to review Microsoft Word documents. Some meetings will be held online via platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
- Be proficient enough in the English Language to be able to be involved in meetings and to help with some written documents. We accept this comes at all levels, and if English is your second language, you have learning disabilities or any visual or auditory challenges this will not hinder your involvement with our project, and we will work with you to enable you to have equal accessibility and any support you require throughout.
Personal qualities
- You should be confident enough to be able to be involved in the Public Advisory Group meetings
- Demonstrate a commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion and promoting fairness and equity
- Able to maintain confidentiality
- Able to work collaboratively as part of a team and also on your own
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: sacha.johnson@leics.gov.uk
How to apply
Please complete an expression of interest form to be considered for the role of public advisory group member – Click the link:
https://surveys.leics.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=171413423787
