Opportunities for patients and the public to be involved in the work of the MHRA
How we engage and involve patients and the public in our regulatory decision-making.
We are committed to delivering a step-change in the way we engage with patients and the public, putting their views and interests at the heart of our decision-making and culture.
We are taking steps to adopt a more transparent, responsive and systematic approach to listening to and involving patients and the public.
Our approach to patient and public involvement
Our first Patient Involvement Strategy published in October 2021 set out how we will engage and involve the public and patients at every step of the regulatory journey. Our approach was informed at the very outset through consultation with patients on what was important to them. The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review also provided us with clear direction on where we could improve our engagement with patients, and the resulting strategy was then approved by our Patient Safety and Engagement Committee and Agency Board.
If you would like to read about some of our activities within the first year of the strategy, please see our One Year On report for more information.
Patient and Public Community
The Patient and Public Community (previously known as the Patient Group Consultative Forum) was established in October 2024 following the review of our strategy and how we could improve involvement of our Patient and Public community.
It is open to people with an interest in medicines and medical devices, and to patient groups who can represent the views of their members and feed these into discussions. It acts as a means of bringing the ‘patient/public voice’ into the agency, to assist in our development of policy or our approach to a specific regulatory or scientific research areas.
We expect participants in the Community to be able to meet the following criteria:
- a demonstrable interest in medicines and medical devices and the role they play in improving health and increasing quality of life
- an interest in the regulation of medicines and medical devices
- an interest in science and research
- a commitment to the principles of patient and public engagement and involvement
- an ability to draw on their experiences as a patient and as a consumer of medicines and medical devices and translate this into a population level perspective
- an interest in championing patient safety
- the commitment to participate in the work of the agency by attending the Patient and Public Community meetings and participating in electronic methods of engagement
- an ability to respect boundaries and confidentiality
- an ability to contribute constructively to discussions
- an ability to communicate effectively
- a commitment to the agency values:
- innovative
- proactive
- impartial
- evidence-based
- open
- trustworthy
The Community is managed by our Patient, Public and Stakeholder Engagement team and comprises of representation from patient groups/networks and charities/research charities or individual patients or carers.
What community members will do
As a member of the community, you can:
- Influence and inform our work by sharing your insights and perspectives
- Help us to improve how we involve patients, carers and the public in our work
- Stay informed of our key developments
- Use your lived experience, or that of the community you represent, to help others to be engaged with our work
We will host events focused on a specific area of the agency’s work. This will provide community members to learn more about our activities and meet agency staff. Community members will also have opportunity to provide comments (from the patient/carer perspective) on draft materials and participate in surveys that inform the development of our work.
Get involved
We continue to grow and evolve and are keen to gain a wide and diverse range of patients and conditions for the Patient and Public Community. There are two types of membership – individual or voluntary and community sector. If you or your organisation would like to get involved, either as a representative of a patient group, or charity/research charity, or as a patient or a carer, sign up using the relevant ‘Expression of interest’ form. Before you sign up, please ensure that you have read and understood our Working Together Agreement.
Expression of interest form – Individual
Expression of interest form - Organisation
Public sessions of the Board
Each year we aim to hold six sessions of the Agency Board meetings in public.
See further details of these public sessions, including how to register to attend. You can sign up to the mailing list if you would like to be kept updated about Agency Board meetings in public and also find out about what is going on in the MHRA that might be of interest to you, plus news about involvement activities that are happening outside the MHRA but are linked to our work.
Details about the agency’s governance can be found on the relevant pages for ‘Our governance’ and ’Advisory bodies’ including their respective responsibilities and members.
Agency’s commitment to patient engagement and involvement
Our commitment to patient and public engagement is included in the agency’s Corporate Plan 2023-26.
We are a signatory of the shared commitment to public involvement in research. Read more in our blog Reflections on the shared commitment to public involvement.
Updates to this page
Published 15 June 2020Last updated 9 October 2024 + show all updates
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Included 'ways to get involved' including the documents: -Working Together Agreement -Expression of interest form – Individual -Expression of interest form - Organisation
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Edited - Other examples of patients’ involvement in our regulatory processes.
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New 'Patient Involvement Strategy' is now available.
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First published.