By Dr Matt Cooper, NIHR Newcastle PSRC, Safer Integrated Health and Social Care Environments Theme Research Associate.

Over the past year of the Tilly Hale Carer Research Panel, we have met on several occasions both in person and online. The sessions have been hugely beneficial to both myself and our research team. The purpose of the group was to establish a collaborative space where carers could help priorities and set the agenda for the research we are doing within the school and patient safety group. Initially I found it difficult to work out how to ensure the group made an impact and how we could become sustainable beyond the funding. I worried that the group would not have a single direction, and I wanted to ensure I brought meaning and a purpose to the group. Looking back over the past year I think the group has made more impact that I initially would have realised. 

Since the group was established, I have had the absolute honour in being able to listen and learn from the experts in what caring should be about, the challenges they face, and where we need to be doing more to research to support the development of services. The carers in the group are passionate about providing the best support for the people they care for, while providing a selfless act of giving their time and energy, despite the challenges they face or the impact on their own health and wellbeing. 

The group has informed my thinking and critical review of research more that I had accredited before, and they have made me think more holsitically about the research we can do. Within our research team we now have 7 projects in this space including, student carers, carers involvement in medication management, carers involvement in hospital at home care, carer wellbeing, and support for ethnically marginalised carers. All these projects I believe have been informed by the panel and give thanks to them and their openness to support this. 

Of course, we are also working on an art piece which has been commissioned around what it means to be a carer, and below is an intial draft of this. This piece I hope can be sent far and wide to demonstrate the vitally important role carers play in the healthcare landscape and support the research we are doing. I thank the research panel for their honest reflection when developing this piece and I hope that it does justice to their experiences.