At a glance

Institution: 
Partners: 
Department of Health & Social Care, NHS Test and Trace, Ipsos MORI, Imperial College Health Partners, Sortition Foundation
Duration: 
January to July 2021

The NHS Test and Trace Public Advisory Group brought together people from different backgrounds to inform new policies to help England come out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The group worked with experts to look at how we could live and work together safely and move forward together out of these challenging times. A report of its recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS Test and Trace has now been published as the Test and Trace Public Advisory Report.

Ipsos MORI, Imperial College Health Partners and Involve worked together to organise and run the public advisory group on behalf of DHSC and NHS Test and Trace.

How did deliberative methods contribute to the project?

20,000 households from across England were randomly selected from Royal Mail’s address database to receive an invitation. 100 people were randomly selected from those who registered their interest.  This process was designed to make sure the group members represented the entire community and were of diverse ages, genders and ethnicities.

The group met online over 7 meetings between May and June 2021.

What impact has the Public Advisory Group had?

The Public Advisory Group’s recommendations have been considered by DHSC and NHS Test and Trace to inform critical policy decisions about how England comes out of the COVID-19 crisis.

Find out more

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash