Building research partnerships with local government: Reviewing five years of a Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST)

Background:
Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams (PHIRST) are academic teams funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to provide rapid evaluations of public health interventions at no cost to local government. PHIRST Insight, a collaboration between the Universities of Bristol and Cardiff, was established in 2020 and completed 10 studies of a diverse range of local public health interventions over five years. This study examined local government partners’ and academic researchers’ experience of co-producing studies, and the perceived impact of PHIRST Insight studies.

Methods:
This is a qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff involved in each of the 10 Insight studies. Participants included local government staff (including some from third-sector organisations commissioned to deliver interventions) (N=13) and members of the PHIRST academic team (N=12). Interview transcripts were analysed using the Framework method of thematic analysis.

Results:
Research undertaken by a PHIRST team was perceived by local government staff to be more robust than that which they could undertake themselves, and the scheme successfully addressed the perceived lack of research skills, staff capacity, and funding within local government to undertake evaluation activity. Both research and local government respondents believed that they developed successful research partnerships through PHIRST, despite identified challenges of working with an external research team. The PHIRST Insight team’s three principles of co-production of studies with local partners, embedding public involvement across all aspects of the studies, and a focus on maximising impact for local government policy and practice were perceived by participants to have been largely met across all ten studies.

Conclusions:
This study finds evidence that local government staff perceive a range of benefits from PHIRST support and that Insight studies have met the aim of the PHIRST scheme, providing timely evidence to inform local government practice or policy.