Title: Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team: PHIRST Insight
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: What is a ‘Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team’ (PHIRST)?_x000D_ _x000D_ Public health covers any activity or ‘intervention’ that helps people live a healthier life or stops them getting ill from diseases like cancer or ‘flu. We need high quality research to improve public health and keep everyone as healthy as possible, whatever their background or situation. Local authorities and other groups such as charities have a big role to play in public health. The National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) PHIRST scheme wants to help them to do this by funding teams of academic researchers to work with them. A group of us working at Bristol and Cardiff Universities will be one of the teams. We will work with local authorities and other groups in the UK and with the public to plan and carry out research which will give information about what works best to improve people’s health._x000D_ _x000D_ What will the PHIRST team do? _x000D_ _x000D_ It is likely the NIHR will want us to research six different local authority or other public health interventions over three years to see if they are working well. For each intervention, we would work out which organisations and public partners need to be involved and produce a brief research plan. Once the NIHR agree for our plan to go ahead, we would set up a group to manage the study made up of researchers, public health professionals and public partners. This group would work together to develop a detailed research plan, carry out the research and share the findings widely. A programme management group made up of researchers, health professionals and public partners would supervise the overall progress of all the studies._x000D_ _x000D_ What relevant experience does the PHIRST team have? _x000D_ _x000D_ At Bristol and Cardiff Universities we have a wide range of experience and knowledge covering all the different areas that are important to public health. These include alcohol problems, giving up smoking, mental health and staying healthy in later life. We are also experienced in the different research methods that will be needed, such as statistics and economics. We have good links with other public health researchers in the UK who can give us specialist advice if needed. We have lots of experience of public health policy and practice in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Our Universities train many people to work in public health research and practice, and we can use this experience to train the people that we work with from local government and other groups. Our previous research has led to changes that improve public health practice. We will do this for the PHIRST studies by sharing the findings in many forms including policy briefings, webinars, conference presentations, videos, blogs and academic articles. We will also meet and talk to decision-makers so they know what changes are needed based on our research. We will also work with our public partners to make sure that our findings are widely available to the public in ways that are easy to understand.

Lay abstract: The Universities of Bristol (UoB) and Cardiff enthusiastically support the aims of PHIRSTs to respond to requests to evaluate local policies and interventions to improve public health and reduce inequalities, and wish to host a PHIRST team._x000D_ _x000D_ Public health researchers have collaborated successfully across both institutions for two decades and have excellent international reputations for producing high quality, impactful and policy relevant research. All departments involved ranked from 1st to 5th in the UK in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. We are well equipped to host a PHIRST as we have a long track record of engaging with and responding to requests for research from public health practitioners._x000D_ _x000D_ UoB is a member of the NIHR School for Public Health Research so we have substantial experience of its Public Health Practice Evaluation Scheme, forerunner of PHIRST, having successfully led or co-led 7 such studies to date. We were also instrumental in establishing the Welsh Public Health Improvement Research Network (PHIRN) in 2005. It also brings together academics and practitioners to formulate and conduct evaluations. To date 196 such studies have been co-produced. We contribute to the upskilling of those working in local government via this work, our co-located staff, and short courses._x000D_ _x000D_ We have a broad range of methodological skills and substantive knowledge. The UoB hosts an NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, Health Protection Research Unit, Biomedical Research Centre, a UK Prevention Research Partnership collaboration and is unique in being a member of all three national schools of Primary Care, Social Care and Public Health. These centres, all part of national networks, together with our involvement in PHIRN and many UK-wide research projects means that if asked to undertake work requiring additional skills or knowledge, we have access to many potential collaborators. Our involvement ensures we understand the different ways that public health operates in the UK’s four countries and have the reach to take on UK-wide commissions._x000D_ _x000D_ We have embedded practice and public involvement in all levels in our PHIRST. On receiving a commission we would set up a Task and Finish Group to work with the local authority and practice and public stakeholders to identify: i) questions to be addressed; ii) potential evaluation designs; iii) data required; iv) an intervention logic model and theory; and v) ethical issues. Stakeholder mapping would be undertaken to ensure all relevant partners are involved in co-producing the research. An agreed preliminary proposal would be presented to the NIHR PHR. Once approved a Study Management Group (SMG) comprising researchers and local practitioner and public representatives would collectively develop a detailed research plan which the researchers would work to, overseen by the SMG ensuring the research and outputs are coproduced in a timely way and attend to inequalities. Commissioning and progress of the studies will be overseen by a PHIRST Management Group comprising academics, and public and practice representatives._x000D_ _x000D_ Building on our strong track record of translation of research into policy and practice, each SMG will co-produce a plan for dissemination, implementation, impact, communication, and engagement to be operationalised by the whole PHIRST team. This will include working with practice and public partners to ensure our findings are widely available to the public in accessible forms.

Research activity codes: 8.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGIES (HEALTH SERVICES)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE