"Natural ground" for medical research charities: public and patient involvement in research funding.

Improving patient and public involvement in research is now an established goal of UK science policy. With many medical research charities often representing distinct patient groups as part of their broader charitable role, or having strong patient groups allied to them, patient and public involvement would seem "natural ground" for them. The Association of Medical Research Charities Natural Ground project brought together a learning set of staff and volunteers from member organizations to discuss current activities and share best practice. This article identifies 5 areas where medical research charities involve patients and discusses some of the methods used.