Participatory approaches to evaluating integrated care: the vital role for client inclusion and participation

To the Editor

We read with interest Eyre and colleagues' publication 'What can a participatory approach to evaluation contribute to the field of integrated care?' published in BMJ Quality & Safety on 6 December 2016.1 We agree with many of the points they raised including the need to shift from proving efficacy to promoting real-world implementation of integrated care. In our research to develop a quality framework to drive improvements in integrated care implementation, we uncovered similar issues regarding the role of leadership and the microprocesses of collaboration between providers.2

However, while Eyre and colleagues correctly point out the value of participatory research approaches, coproduction of knowledge between researchers and those with a stake in the application of knowledge, and the centrality of person-centred care in integrated care, they do not identify the absence of service users in their own research as an important omission.

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