Alan Holcroft is a member of the public, and has been a regular user of NHS services over the years in relation to his hearing. Professionally, he is a qualified social and market researcher, with a background in statistics and data analysis.
He began his career in the public sector, advising on the design and analysis of public consultation projects on behalf of local authorities, health organisations and the Police. He established a 12,000 strong citizens panel on behalf of ten partner organisations. He moved to the private sector and continued to direct research projects on behalf of clients across the UK, before taking on a senior Leadership role for a transport planning team, with responsibility for 350 staff across 18 locations in the UK and Europe.
Alan lives in the North West of England and was involved in his local PPI Forum when it was first set up and provided advice to a number of local forums on how to undertake representative surveys of the local population.
Alan is particularly interested in developing the trust and confidence of the public in providing access and consent for their data to be used in research. He is aware of some of the concerns that people may have, but also of the positive impact that providing access could have in research, which ultimately may improve the lives of all. He is therefore excited to be involved as a member of the Public Advisory Board, to play a part in ensuring the work of HDR UK is trusted by the public and patients.