Research is not just for researchers. Patients and the public can be involved too. New research cannot lead to reliable findings unless the right patients agree to join in.

Clinical trials

One type of health research is the clinical trial, which compares one treatment with another. Read more about clinical trials.

If you take part in a clinical trial, you may be one of the first people to benefit from a new treatment. Or, when you have a standard treatment as part of a clinical trial, you can help to test whether that treatment is better and safer than a different standard treatment or a new treatment.

Read more about joining a trial.

Other health research

The public can also get involved in other types of health research.

For some types of research, people are asked whether researchers may use personal information, in confidence, from their health records.

For other types of research, it is not necessary for the researchers to know who the participants are, and they use data from patient information that has been made anonymous.

An organisation called INVOLVE suggests ways that people can contribute to research without taking part in a trial. When the public is involved in the way research is commissioned and managed, it is more likely to produce results that can improve health and social care practice.