title: Introduction: priority setting, equitable access and public involvement in health care.
abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on improving equitable access to health care through increased public and patient involvement (PPI) in prioritization decisions by discussing the conceptualization, scope and rationales of PPI in priority setting that inform the special issue. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs a mixed-methods approach in that it provides a literature review and a conceptual discussion of the common themes emerging in the field of PPI and health priority setting. Findings - The special issue focuses on public participation that is collective in character, in the sense that the participation relates to a social, not personal, decision and is relevant to whole groups of people and not single individuals. It is aimed at influencing a decision on public policy or legal rules. The rationales for public participation can be found in democratic theory, especially as they relate to the social and political values of legitimacy and representation. Originality/value - The paper builds on previous definitions of public participation by underlining its collective character. In doing so, it develops the work by Parry, Moyser and Day by arguing that, in light of the empirical evidence presented in this issue, public participatory activities such as protests and demonstrations should no longer be labelled unconventional, but should instead be labelled as "contestatory participation". This is to better reflect a situation in which these modes of participation have become more conventional in many parts of the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weale
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kieslich
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Littlejohns
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and Priceless SA, Wits School of Public Health, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Aviva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tugendhaft
authors.affiliation: Bioethics Centre, Department of General Practice & Rural Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tumilty
authors.affiliation: National Medicines Regulatory Authority of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Krisantha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weerasuriya
authors.affiliation: Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK and School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Whitty
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D003210:Concept Formation; D006292:Health Priorities; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans
keywords: Contestatory participation; Deliberation; Democratic theory; Priority setting; Public participation