This past Tuesday, the 15th of December, an online priority setting meeting was held to identify numerical aspects of trials where patient and public involvement could make the most difference. The meeting was part of the PoINT project led by Dr Beatriz Goulao. The facilitation was led by Katherine Cowan with Beatriz and Dr Hanne Bruhn as co-facilitators. The numerical aspects considered were selected via a systematic review of the literature, expert discussion, a survey of trialists and focus groups with patient partners.
Multiple stakeholders (patient and public partners, clinicians, statisticians, commissioners, patient and public involvement coordinators) were invited to join the meeting and discuss the importance of involving patients and the public in numerical aspects of trials and to prioritise which aspects should be taken forward first to be further researched. It was agreed that this research represented a call to action and that it is important to involve patients and the public in all numerical aspects of trials.
After discussions, participants voted on the most important numerical aspects of trials to involve patients and the public in and consensus was achieved on a top 3. The results of the meeting will be out next year, but in the meantime we would like to thank all the participants for taking part in this important conversation.