NHS Trusts · ICBs · Health Systems
PPIE for NHS Trusts That Actually Influences Decisions
Patient and public involvement that strengthens service redesign, quality improvement programmes, and transformation projects. We deliver credible PPIE that satisfies governance, builds stakeholder confidence, and centres patient voice where it matters most.
Why NHS trusts work with us
Service redesigns that patients don't adopt. Quality improvement projects that miss what actually frustrates people. Transformation programmes where patient voice arrives too late to influence anything. These are expensive problems that proper PPIE prevents.
We help NHS trusts, integrated care boards, and health systems deliver patient and public involvement that's ethical, inclusive, and genuinely shapes decision-making - not just consultation after decisions are made.
PPIE services for NHS trusts
From rapid patient consultations to sustained involvement partnerships, we tailor PPIE to your project timeline, governance requirements, and budget constraints.
Service Redesign PPIE
Patient involvement for pathway redesign, service transformation, and care model changes. Co-design workshops, journey mapping, and barrier identification.
Quality Improvement PPIE
Patient and family voice in QI projects. Understanding lived experience of current services, testing PDSA cycles, and measuring what matters to patients.
Patient Advisory Groups
Recruit, facilitate, and manage ongoing patient panels for trust strategy, service oversight, or programme governance. Quarterly meetings or ongoing consultation.
Patient Experience Research
Deep dive interviews and focus groups with patients and families to understand lived experience, unmet needs, and barriers to care. For strategic planning or commissioning.
Digital Health PPIE
Patient testing for trust websites, patient portals, apps, and digital services. Usability testing with diverse patients including elderly and digitally excluded.
Patient Surveys & Consultation
Design, distribute, and analyse patient surveys. Online and paper options. Accessible formats. Analysis and reporting for trust boards and commissioners.
Health Inequalities & Inclusion Work
Reach marginalised communities, seldom-heard groups, and populations experiencing health inequalities. Trusted community partners and culturally sensitive approaches.
Integrated Care Board (ICB) PPIE
System-wide patient involvement across multiple trusts and providers. Strategic planning, commissioning decisions, and population health management.
Our approach to NHS trust PPIE
We understand NHS governance, timelines, and budget realities. Our PPIE is designed to fit trust processes, not fight them.
Early involvement, real influence
We involve patients at the problem definition stage - not after solutions are designed. Patients shape options, test proposals, and see how their input changed outcomes.
Governance-ready documentation
Clear audit trails showing who was involved, how they were recruited, what they said, and how it influenced decisions. Evidence that satisfies trust boards, CQC, and commissioners.
Reach beyond usual suspects
We recruit through clinical services, community organisations, and peer networks - not just patient panel regulars. We reach people who've never been asked before.
Fair payment aligned with NIHR
We pay patients properly for their time and expertise. Rates aligned with NIHR guidance. Options that don't affect benefits. Expenses covered in full.
Accessible by design
We mobilise research to where your communities are, rather than asking them to come to us. Sessions in community centres, faith settings, libraries, GP practices, and people's own homes. Virtual options for those who prefer them. Plain English materials in advance, British Sign Language interpretation available, step-free venues, flexible timing for shift workers and carers. Genuine access is about removing every barrier - starting with geography.
Trauma-informed facilitation
We create psychological safety for people sharing difficult health experiences. No pressure to disclose. Breaks when needed. Debrief support available.
Realistic timelines
We know trust projects have tight deadlines. We work to your timeline - rapid consultations in 2-3 weeks when needed, or sustained programmes over 6-12 months.
Outputs for multiple audiences
Executive summaries for trust boards. Detailed findings for project teams. Plain English reports for patient groups. Video highlights for staff engagement.
What NHS trust PPIE looks like in practice
Illustrative examples of the kind of work NHS trusts commission - and what meaningful patient involvement makes possible
Emergency department pathway redesign
An acute trust redesigning ED flow and triage processes. Patients who had used the department multiple times are recruited, journey mapping workshops surface pain points that clinical staff had not recognised, and proposed changes are tested with diverse patients before implementation.
What good looks like: Design flaws caught before implementation. Fewer complaints at launch. Patient experience evidence presented at trust board. CQC inspectors with something substantive to note.
Diabetes service transformation
An integrated care system consolidating diabetes services across multiple trusts. A patient advisory group with Type 1, Type 2, and gestational diabetes experience meets quarterly over 12 months, shaping the service model, clinic locations, and digital tools.
What good looks like: Patient representatives presenting the business case to the ICB alongside clinical leads. Commissioners seeing genuine involvement, not a checkbox. A smoother transition because communities understood and trusted the change.
Mental health crisis pathway improvement
A mental health trust improving crisis response and patient experience. Sensitive 1-on-1 interviews with people who have experienced crisis care map their journeys and identify gaps in current provision that clinical data alone would not surface.
What good looks like: Barriers identified that staff had not seen. QI interventions shaped by patient input before implementation. CQC inspection noting the quality of patient involvement as a strength.
Patient portal usability testing
A teaching hospital launching a new patient portal for appointments, test results, and messages. Testing with elderly patients, people with disabilities, low digital literacy users, and frequent users before go-live.
What good looks like: Accessibility issues fixed before launch rather than after complaints. Onboarding redesigned based on what real users struggled with. Adoption rates the trust can be proud of rather than embarrassed by.
Who we work with in NHS trusts
From transformation directors to quality improvement leads, we support roles across the trust
NHS trust PPIE pricing
Transparent pricing designed for NHS budgets and procurement processes
Rapid Consultation
Quick Insight
Fast patient input when you need evidence quickly. Suitable for business cases, governance approvals, or early-stage service design validation.
- 4-6 patient contributors
- One consultation session or focus group
- Targeted recruitment via clinical services
- Key findings summary
- Evidence for trust board/governance
- 2-3 week turnaround
Service Redesign PPIE
Co-design Programme
Multi-phase patient involvement for pathway redesign, service transformation, or quality improvement projects. Enough engagement to demonstrate meaningful influence.
- 8-12 patient/carer contributors
- 2-3 engagement phases (discovery, co-design, testing)
- Journey mapping and workshop facilitation
- Detailed thematic analysis
- Full PPIE report with recommendations
- Trust board presentation if needed
- 4-6 week delivery
Strategic Partnership
Patient Advisory Group
Sustained patient panel for ongoing trust strategy, transformation programmes, or organisational oversight. 6-12 month partnerships.
- Patient Advisory Group recruitment & setup
- Quarterly meetings or more frequent consultation
- Document review and feedback cycles
- Staff training on patient involvement
- Impact documentation for CQC/commissioners
- Flexible 6-12 month engagement
All packages include: Fair payment for patient/carer contributors (NIHR-aligned rates), recruitment costs, facilitation, accessible materials, analysis, governance documentation, and clear reporting of patient influence on outcomes.
NHS procurement: We work with framework agreements, purchase orders, and NHS payment terms. Public liability insurance. DBS checks available. Information governance compliant.
Budget planning: We help you cost PPIE properly in business cases and service budgets. Happy to provide budget estimates for multi-year programmes.
Common questions
What is PPIE for NHS trusts?
PPIE for NHS trusts means involving patients, carers, and the public in decisions about service design, transformation, and quality improvement. NHS organisations are required to demonstrate genuine patient and public involvement in major change programmes. We help trusts go beyond tick-box consultation to produce credible, governance-ready evidence of meaningful involvement.
How do you reach seldom-heard communities for NHS PPIE?
We mobilise research to where communities are, rather than asking them to come to us. We work in community centres, faith settings, libraries, GP practices, and people's own homes. We provide materials in plain English and other languages as needed, offer BSL interpretation, ensure step-free venues, and schedule sessions to suit shift workers and carers.
Can you provide PPIE support for ICBs as well as individual NHS trusts?
Yes. We work with Integrated Care Boards, NHS trusts, and the full range of NHS organisations. ICB-level PPIE often requires involvement across a wider geography and more diverse population groups. We have experience designing and delivering population-level involvement programmes that meet the governance expectations of system-level commissioning.
How much does NHS trust PPIE cost?
NHS trust PPIE projects start from £4,500 for a focused patient consultation or involvement study. Larger programmes covering multiple services, communities, or trust-wide transformation work are scoped individually. All costs include fair payment to participants, recruitment, facilitation, analysis, and governance-ready documentation.
How quickly can you start an NHS PPIE project?
We can typically begin scoping and recruitment within one to two weeks of instruction. Straightforward consultation studies can be completed in four to six weeks. More complex programmes involving hard-to-reach groups or multiple sites take longer.
Where we work
We are based in West Yorkshire and deliver across the UK. Most of this work runs remotely; when a project calls for being in the room, we travel. See user research in Leeds and Yorkshire, or the full list of locations we cover.
We fully recognise the effort your team invested in recruitment, moderation, and analysis, and we genuinely appreciate the quality of the discussions and reporting.
- Usability problems in an insulin device surfaced before manufacturing locked anything in, with human factors evidence supporting the regulatory submission.
- An NHS patient portal team got a prioritised, evidenced list of adoption barriers, and the highest-leverage fix wasn't the one they expected.
- Patient involvement changed a trial's primary endpoint before the protocol was finalised, cited by the ethics committee as a model for evidencing PPIE.
Trusted PPI and PPIE delivery partner to the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care.
Want to talk it through?
If you are unsure which approach fits, we will help you choose the right method and scope.
Contact usWe usually respond within one working day. Want a number first? Build a ballpark PPIE estimate - no email required - or read what PPIE actually costs and what drives the figure.
Prefer to talk it through first?
Book a free 20-minute call. No obligation, no sales pitch. We'll tell you honestly whether research is worth it for your decision, and what it would cost.