The benefits of getting involved in a Priority Setting Partnership

Introduction Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) bring together patients, carers and healthcare professionals to have an equal say in identifying questions which cannot currently be answered by research. The aim is to create a top ten list of research priorities which are shared with funders, so that research money is directed to the areas that matter most to patients and those who treat them. A few PSPs have been carried out into dermatological conditions, but many others could benefit in the future. Methods A steering group is set up comprised of patients, carers, healthcare professionals and academics. Meetings are chaired by an adviser from the James Lind Alliance, who also supports the whole PSP process. A first survey asks respondents for questions about their condition that they would like to see answered by research, and is widely advertised on social media, patient support websites, and healthcare professional networks. Next the survey results are screened to remove any outside of the scope of the PSP, and then indicative questions are formed to group repeated or very similar questions together. The indicative questions are checked against existing literature and removed if the question has already been answered by a systematic review. A second survey asks the respondents to rank the remaining indicative questions in order to priority. A final workshop is held to reduce a shortlist of 20-30 questions down to the top ten. Results PSPs have been done for seven skin conditions, including lichen sclerosus, acne and psoriasis.1 The most recently PSP has been for hyperhidrosis, and the top ten list is currently being publicised.2 Benefits • Dermatology nurses and other healthcare professionals can have their say about research priorities • Hearing first hand from patients what their own research priorities are • Development of skills useful for other research projects • Opportunity for conference presentation and contributing to peer-reviewed articles