Time to Talk Public Health Frequently Asked Questions

Residents of Wales aged 16 years and over are being invited to join Time to Talk Public Health. Time to Talk Public Health is a group of around 2,500 people who reflect the population of Wales. We need a diverse range of residents from all areas of Wales to take part so that we capture a broad range of views. Only one member of each household can be a part of the Time to Talk Public Health group.

If you are not able to participate, please let us know if someone else in your household is interested and we can check to see if they match groups we are looking for at this time.

The aim of Time to Talk Public Health is to help Public Health Wales understand the public’s attitudes, opinions, emotions and interests on a range of public health topics. As the national public health institute for Wales, Public Health Wales works to protect and improve health and well-being and reduce health inequalities for the people of Wales. Public Health Wales sees the public as an important partner in their decision making and want to ensure that residents of Wales have a voice in policy and practice that affects them, their communities, and their nation.

Find out more about Public Health Wales.

Public engagement is also an important part of national legislation in Wales called the ‘Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015’ (WBFGA). Through this legislation, Public Health Wales and other public bodies in Wales are required to think about the long-term impact of their decisions; to work better with people, communities, and each other; and to prevent persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities and climate change. The WBFGA identifies the public as a key stakeholder in decision making.

You can take part in Time to Talk Public Health in Welsh and English. You will be asked at the start of recruitment which of the two languages you would like to take part in. If you would like to take part in a different language, please contact DJS Research by email at [email protected] and they will do their best to make the arrangements.

Once you provide consent to take part in Time to Talk Public Health, you will be asked to complete an initial 5-minute sign-up survey.

You will then be asked to complete one survey every three months, either online or by telephone. It is expected that taking part online will take 10 minutes, and taking part by telephone will take 15-20 minutes. You may occasionally be invited to take part in other surveys or research with Public Health Wales, however, you will be asked for additional consent for this to happen.

When you join Time to Talk Public Health, you will be asked how you would like to complete the surveys. There are two ways you can do this:

• Online
• By telephone

a)    Online
–    You will receive an invitation email with a personalised survey link.
–    The survey will be open to complete for around 3 weeks – the closing date will be included in the invitation email.
–    Please add ‘[email protected]’ to your safe sender list as this helps stop the email going into your junk mail.
–    We know everyone is busy, so we send survey reminders before the closing date if surveys have not been completed.

b)    By telephone
–    A trained interviewer from DJS Research will call you to complete each survey within the timeframes you told us you preferred.
–    The interviewer will call you from 01663 761 693 – you may wish to save this number so that you recognise it.
–    The interviews will be recorded for training and quality purposes; these will be managed by DJS Research and deleted three months after the interview. For more information, visit DJS Research’s privacy notice (opens in new window).

Public health is defined as “the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities where they live, learn, work and play”.

This means the topics you will be asked could be anything that could impact on your health or the health of the people of Wales, such as health behaviours, employment, the cost of living, climate change, mental health, housing, or the services you might use.

You will also be asked some general information about you, your health and health-related behaviours to help us understand more about your opinions and attitudes. There are no right or wrong answers, and no answers that you provide will affect any services you access.

We know life is busy, and it is easy to miss a survey due to holidays etc., so if you miss a survey please do not worry, we would be grateful if you could take part in the next one. For each survey, Public Health Wales is really keen to collect data from a diverse range of people so that the information reflects the people of Wales.

We will continue to invite you to take part in each Time to Talk Public Health survey when it is open. However, if you miss three consecutive surveys, you may be removed from Time to Talk Public Health.

There are no expected risks of taking part in Time to Talk Public Health. All data collected as part of Time to Talk Public Health will be stored securely. Your personal data (e.g. name) will not be stored directly with the survey answers you provide. Every member of Time to Talk Public Health will be given a randomly generated unique identification code, and that will be assigned to your answers.

A benefit of taking part will be that you are helping to give the people of Wales a voice within within public health policy and practice. We also hope that taking part will increase your knowledge on different public health topics that may be of interest to you.

Your honest responses are important to us. All the information that you provide as part of Time to Talk Public Health will be strictly confidential. This means that it will not be stored with your name.

Any information that is included in reports using the findings will not identify you. our data, including personally identifiable data, will be securely stored by the commissioned market research company (DJS Research Ltd) on behalf of Public Health Wales, as well as being stored by Public Health Wales. Sharing of your data to a different market research company may occur if the market research company we partner with changes in the future. You will be notifed of any changes in the market research company.

Your answers will not be shared with anyone beyond the project team, UNLESS you reveal an intention to harm yourself or somebody else, information indicating somebody may pose a serious risk of harm to you or the public, or the intention to commit an act of terrorism. We would discuss this with you before telling anybody else.

The findings from the Time to Talk Public Health surveys will be written up in reports and similar outputs (e.g. presentations). If you have provided an email address, the key reports published from each survey will be shared with you directly.

The reports will also be published on Public Health Wales’ website (opens in new window).

Of course. You can withdraw from Time to Talk Public Health at any point. Any personally identifiable information, including your name and contact information, will be deleted following the withdrawal notification. Some non-identifiable information such as age band, gender, and geographical location (e.g. rural/urban) will be retained to help us understand the types of people who withdraw and when.

As reports and other outputs from the data are being regularly produced, it is likely that some of your data will have already been included in an output, and so it will not be possible to withdraw your data from those outputs.

When you notify us that you wish to withdraw, please let us know how you would like to withdraw, as there are two options:

–    Option 1: Withdraw your participation going forward but the data you have already kindly given can continue to be used within further analyses and outputs (e.g. allow us to measure changes over time).
–    Option 2: Withdraw your participation going forward and remove your data entirely from any further analyses and outputs.

To update your contact details or make a change to how you would prefer to participate in the quarterly surveys, lease email [email protected] or call on 01663 761697.

DJS Research is a research company that have been commissioned by Public Health Wales to deliver Time to Talk Public Health. DJS Research is a full member of the Market Research Society. They are bound by the Market Research Society Code of Conduct. More information on DJS Research’s privacy policy and processes can be found here.

DJS Research are the main point of contact as they are managing Time to Talk Public Health on behalf of Public Health Wales. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected] or call 01663 761 697.

We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English.

f you have any questions or concerns, please contact [email protected] or call 01663 761 697. We welcome all correspondence in Welsh and English.

If DJS Research have been unable to resolve your concerns, you are welcome to make a formal complaint to Public Health Wales by emailing [email protected] or ringing 029 2022 7744.

The protection of personal data is, and always has been, a top priority for Public Health Wales and DJS Research Ltd. DJS Research is compliant with the guidance and requirements of the professional code of conduct applicable to all registered market research companies and all current existing local regulations, especially regarding the protection of respondents’ data. DJS Research uses anonymisation techniques to protect respondents’ personal data ss part of its data collection operations, access to personal data is restricted to only the people who need to work with the data directly.

Your personal data (e.g. name) will be stored for as long as is required for the purposes of Time to Talk Public Health. Moreover, your personal data will not be stored directly with the survey answers you provide.

If you are concerned with how your data is managed, please visit DJS Research’s privacy notice and Public Health Wales’ privacy notice. You are also welcome to email [email protected] or call 01663 761 693 to discuss any concerns.