EAPC2016: Abstracts

Background: Internationally, stakeholder involvement is recognised as important in the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process but little is known about the value of this activity. Aims: To identify the contribution of stakeholder involvement in an EU project, that has developed concepts and methods to assess complex technologies and applied these in a palliative care case study. Methods: Stakeholders (n=155), (commissioners, professionals, academics, patients, caregivers) in England, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland took part in the project. Involvement occurred in various ways (i.e. individuals or group, face-face, telephone, email and in Skype meetings) throughout the project. Results: Stakeholder involvement was valuable as they: identified priorities in palliative care which led to the focus on home care provision and family carer support early in the project; validated findings for patient preferences and moderators of treatment effect, giving additional insights into these; informed gaps in the effectiveness evidence; provided expert opinion to assist economic modelling to predict the potential cost impact of the introduction of additional carer support; informed the assessment of sociocultural aspects which focused on user-professional relationships and decision making; took part in a ‘mock’ decision making meeting to end the case study. Conclusion: The philosophy of stakeholder involvement is consistent with the principles of palliative care, potentially enhancing understanding of the health technology and improving the relevance and responsiveness of research. There is not one model to fit all as involvement needs to be flexible and responsive to specific circumstances. Stakeholder advice can complement and enrich traditional forms of evidence, providing additional insights without creating heavy workloads for researchers or stakeholders. (co-funded by the European Union under grant agreement 306141).