Sheffield Emergency Care Forum are looking for new members.

We are a well-established, independent, and friendly group based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. We represent patients, carers and the public in research studies and have a strong interest in seeing improvements for patients in the areas of ambulance service care and emergency hospital care. Our group has around fifteen members including at least two medical students and two ambulance service representatives.

We especially welcome enquiries from anyone who has used ambulance services or emergency care provision in the ED as a patient or a carer. We would also welcome those who are interested in learning how pre-hospital and emergency care services work as we are all potentially users of these services. We welcome members from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures.

We aim to assist researchers by offering a patient and public perspective on research into pre-hospital urgent and emergency care studies. We comment on plain English summaries, patient information sheets, consent forms, surveys, and questionnaires. We may become members of Project Management Groups, Steering Groups and co-applicants and are involved throughout the course of a project. We aim to ensure that the issues that are important to patients are investigated, and that research is acceptable to and will benefit the patients and public we represent. At the completion of studies, we also advise on dissemination of the findings through publications, conferences, and multimedia presentations so they are clear and accessible to the public.

• You would normally attend group meetings at, Regent Court in the University of Sheffield, or online
• Group meetings are held approximately every three months and conducted during normal working hours. They last about two hours, and you would hear presentations from researchers and may be asked to offer a patient/carer/public view on the research
• An experienced member of the group could mentor you as a new member until you feel comfortable
• You would need to read some paperwork before meetings and when providing input to projects
• You could be contacted by email at other times for comments on matters related to ongoing or proposed research.
• If you agree to be involved in a particular study, you would be expected to attend meetings for this and give comments by email when needed
• The role is interesting and rewarding. It is primarily voluntary but there is an allowance for attending group meetings and there could be payment for attending study meetings when they are funded
• As a member you need to be reliable, trustworthy, respect the opinions of others and appreciate the need to keep some information confidential

We can provide you with details of free training courses for participants in Public Involvement in research and helpful guidance is available online.

If you are interested in joining the Sheffield Emergency Care Forum or have any questions, please use the ‘contact us’ page on this website or email our coordinator, Linda at secfenquiries@gmail.com

More information is available on our ‘Publications and Research Studies’ page.