Since the start of the KCE Trials programme, great importance has been attached to the patients' point of view. Patient representatives attend KCE panels and KCE Trials Board meetings and are involved in the review, prioritisation and selection of trials to be funded. They are in the best position to highlight the issues that are most important to patients and to assess the feasibility of a trial from a participant point of view.
The involvement of patients and/or the general public in the development of the clinical trial (importance of the clinical question, selection of patient-relevant endpoints, feasibility of the trial assessments etc.) and their continued involvement throughout the life cycle of the research project is also an evaluation criterion for proposals submitted in our calls. Therefore, a patient involvement plan is required.
In funded studies such as BIG BIRD (support to stop benzodiazepine use) or BLENDED (treatment of depression with online tools), many patients thought about the design of the study, the questionnaires and the electronic tools to be tested. They helped to improve the structure of the tools, language use and communication with future participants in the study.
