1.2 - Who are patients and the public?
The HTA programme defines 'patients’ and the ‘public’ as: patients; unpaid carers; parents/guardians; users of health services; disabled people; members of the public who are the potential recipients of health promotion/public health programmes; groups asking for research because they believe they have been exposed to potentially harmful circumstances, products or services; groups asking for research because they believe they have been denied products or services from which they believe they could have benefited; and organisations that represent service users and carers (adapted from the definition offered by INVOLVE, Hanley et al 2004, ref. 4 ). More specifically, in order to maximise patient and public input into the existing structures for managing the HTA programme, the programme seeks patients and members of the public who are linked to peer networks so that they are able to draw on a wide body of patient and public opinion. To achieve the aim of bringing fresh eyes to the work of the HTA programme a patient or member of the public should not normally be a health practitioner, manager or researcher.
Research teams can consider to what extent this definition for informing patient and public involvement in managing the HTA programme may be useful for informing patient and public involvement in individual research projects. Suggestions can be found in Choosing and finding people.
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