Fife Community Advisory Council

What does Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement look like at the University of St Andrews & NHS Fife?

Fife Community Advisory Council (FCAC) is a research group based in the University of St Andrews & NHS Fife studying health-related subjects who want to improve our research by involving and engaging with patients and the public.  The group works with members of the public who are not health professionals and who through their knowledge and experience can contribute to the development of research studies.  

The group's remit includes but is not limited to, suggesting what health problems to study and how best to study these problems, looking at what resources are available or needed to improve on these problems.  FCAC members assist with reviewing grant applications and developing materials for research studies, such as participant information sheets and protocols.  Sub-groups are sometimes formed to support specific projects, this offers council members an opportunity to work on areas of particular interest and become co-applicants or co-authors in these studies. One such group, Multimorbidity Public Reference Group, an HDR UK National Implementation project, aims to standardise the way multimorbidity is measured across the UK.

Patient and public involvement and engagement in research helps make sure the group undertakes research that makes a difference to peoples’ lives. The key principles are sharing power, including all perspectives and skills, respecting and valuing the knowledge of all those working together, reciprocity, and building and maintaining relationships.

Participate

For Researchers: Are you interested in discussing your research ideas with the Fife Community Advisory Council? Do you wish to have a laypersons’ perspective on your proposal?  Would you like to have a public partner on your study team?  Or do you have any other queries that the Community Advisory Council can help with?  If so, please contact the School of Medicine Research Support Team for more information on medfifecac@st-andrews.ac.uk.

For community members: We’re always delighted to welcome new members to the group.  If you are a member of the public interested in joining the Fife Community Advisory Council, or if you have questions for the group, please contact the Research Support Team on medfifecac@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Project Team

Supported by the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support fund, grant code 204821/Z/16/Z.