Resources
1. Example of a role description and person specification
What we’re looking for and what’s involved
What is a lay member?
We use the phrase ‘lay member’ to refer to a member of one of our committees who has personal experience of using health or care services. The phrase can also mean someone from a community affected by the committee’s topic area or an advocate or unpaid carer.
What will the committee be doing?
The committee will look at the evidence that is available, and develop NICE guidance on Thyroid cancer: assessment and management. The NICE guidance will be written recommendations about the best types of treatment, support and services.
For more information about our committees and what they do, visit the committee area of our website.
What knowledge and experience will I need?
We’re looking for people with an understanding of Thyroid cancer: assessment and management and the issues important to patients, people using services, unpaid carers, communities and the public.
As a lay member, you will have this understanding:
- through personal experience you have of treatment and care provided for you by the NHS
- as a relative or unpaid carer of someone who has used relevant health services
- as an advocate, volunteer, or officer of a relevant charity or organisation.
You will also have:
- good communication and team-working skills
- the ability to listen and take part in constructive debate, while being respectful of other people’s views
- knowledge of the experiences and needs of lots of people which gives you the ability to champion a range of different perspectives on this topic.
Who sits on the committee?
NICE committees develop our guidance. As well as lay members, committees are also made up of professional members. This includes people who work in health or social care, as well as a range of other roles.
Lay members have the same status and carry out the same functions as other committee members.
What does the role involve?
- attending committee meetings (see time commitment below for more information) and taking part in discussions to shape the guidance
- reading committee papers
- commenting on documents between meetings
- keeping the committee’s work confidential.
What am I expected to do?
- Make sure the views, experiences and interests of patients or people who use health and social care services are taken into account by the committee.
- Identify areas of concern to people using NHS, public health or social care services.
- Review topic information and the draft guidance from a patient, service user, carer or community perspective. For instance, does the information address issues important to people affected by the guidance? Does the guidance take their views into account?
- Make sure the guidance considers people from different backgrounds.
How much time will I need to give and where?
It’s important that you are available for the committee’s meetings.
- Meetings for this committee will take place from 1 May 2020
- Committee meetings will usually last for 1 day, but sometimes 2 day meetings are held
- The meetings will happen every 4-6 weeks for a period of 18 months
- The meetings will take place in central London
- If you are appointed, you will be invited to a training day in Central London on 12 May 2020
What’s in it for me?
- You will be helping to make national and local health and social care services work better for patients, people who use services, carers or the public.
- Previous lay members have said they found their confidence improved, as well as developing other skills like public speaking and critical thinking.
- Being a member of a NICE committee shows you are an expert by experience. It also shows you are able to work in a team, as an equal contributor to the committee alongside healthcare and other professionals.
What support will I get?
A named member of the public involvement team will be available throughout your time working with us, to offer help and support.
You will be offered training and guidance to make sure you feel confident on the committee, as well as regular chats with your named contact.
If you have any special requirements, for example access or travel needs, we can discuss this with you and make adjustments where needed.
What happens after I apply?
The public involvement team passes on applications to the team running this committee. Your application is then shortlisted against the required skills and abilities set out in this document.
If you are shortlisted you will be contacted for a phone interview to talk about the position, your application and what is involved before a formal invitation is offered to sit on the committee. The date for interviews has been set for the 14 and 17 February 2020. They will take place on the phone and will last no more than 30 minutes.
More information
For more information about becoming a member on this committee, read our additional information.
This gives more information about:
- payment and expenses, including how this could affect any benefits you receive
- how we can help you to apply if you have a disability
- how we monitor equality and diversity in NICE’s work
- what we expect from our committee members
- what might prevent you from sitting on a NICE committee
- how we will use the personal information you give us
- what you can do if you’re not happy with our recruitment process
2. List of training resources
Title |
Description |
Website |
Cost |
Cochrane Evidence Essentials |
Modules cover: Evidence-based medicine, randomised controlled trials, introduction to systematic reviews, and understanding and using systematic reviews |
https://training.cochrane.org/essentials |
Free, login required |
CUE: Consumers United for Evidence-based Healthcare |
Multiple educational resources and free courses covering: evidence-based healthcare, FDA and the regulation of healthcare interventions and advisory panel engagement resources. There is a video covering consumer involvement in guideline development. |
http://consumersunited.org/education&training
http://consumersunited.org/rrguideline |
Free |
EUPATI: Patient engagement through education |
Toolkit of resources and a course on patient engagement and medicines research and development |
https://eupati.eu/ |
Application process for course. Resources are free. |
Coursera |
Coursera is a platform that hosts free and paid courses offered from reputable institutions around the world. There is a range of courses on research methods, statistics, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Many other courses are offered that might be relevant to specific guideline topics, such as public health courses. |
https://www.coursera.org/ |
Most courses are free, unless you want a certificate. There is a fee for specialisations, which are a series of courses. |
Future Learn |
Future Learn is similar to Coursera and offers courses from reputable institutions covering many aspects of healthcare and medicine, science, psychology and mental health topics that might be relevant for specific guideline groups. |
https://www.futurelearn.com/ |
Courses are free for 6 weeks with the option to pay a fee to upgrade. |
Testing Treatments |
A valuable resource on critically appraising treatment claims. The book is available for free in PDF and audiobook formats. The book is available in different languages. The website also includes an interactive toolkit of additional resources. |
https://en.testingtreatments.org/ |
Free |
The NICE glossary |
NICE provides a glossary and definitions of the terms used in guidance development |
https://www.nice.org.uk/glossary |
Free |
Bandolier |
The website provides a free resource of journal articles related to evidence-based medicine. There is also a learning zone with free articles related to different aspects of trials, meta-analyses, statistics, guidelines and health economics. A glossary of terms is also provided. |
http://www.bandolier.org.uk/
http://www.bandolier.org.uk/learnzone.html
http://www.bandolier.org.uk/glossary.html |
Free |
HTA Glossary |
A free glossary for members working in health technology assessments. |
http://htaglossary.net/HomePage |
Free |