Table 1.

Patient involvement in rheumatology research

Birmingham	The Birmingham Rheumatology Research Patient Partnership (R2P2; http://www.bham.ac.uk/r2p2) is an established partnership between people with rheumatoid arthritis and/or Sjögren's syndrome and rheumatology researchers at the University of Birmingham, Sandwell, and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. It was officially launched in October 2014, building on the success of patient partner panels that had been established to support individual research projects. Members of R2P2 are actively involved in all aspects of the research process, including the development of grant applications; the design of study procedures and of participant‐facing research materials; the development of informational resources; and the dissemination of research findings via patient networks and support groups. Patient partners are co‐authors on papers, including those related to the development of international research recommendations (Gerlag et al., 2012); the development of patient questionnaires (Stack et al., 2015) and patient‐initiated research to determine why people with symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis delay seeking help (Tiwana, Rowland, Fincher, Raza, & Stack, 2015).
Glasgow	The Glasgow Patient Involvement in Rheumatology Research (PIRR) group is in the early stages of its development with patient representation on clinical trial steering groups and further recruitment of patient research partners under way. Identification of possible patient partners has been through the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), Arthritis Care and clinicians. There has been informal patient involvement for a number of years, while research is a standing item on the agenda of the Patient Engagement sub‐group (which includes patient representatives) of the Rheumatology Managed Clinical Network of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Newcastle upon Tyne	The Newcastle Public Involvement in Musculoskeletal Services (PIMS) Group held its first formal meeting in March 2015. This joint project between Newcastle University and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has two main objectives: To involve service users and carers in improving the quality of services and making services more responsive to the needs of the individuals who use them To involve service users and carers in different aspects of research projects at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, providing a forum for researchers and the public/patient community to formally engage with each other Researchers also discuss future projects and feed back results to existing patient groups, including the North East Sjögren's Syndrome Association (NESSA) and the local NRAS group.