COPI Notice extension
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has extended the General Control of Patient Information (COPI) notice to expire on 30 June 2022.
If you are relying on the general COPI notice and need to process confidential patient information for COVID-19 purposes after 30 June you will need to establish a different lawful basis to do so.
Alternative options could be:
- to obtain patient consent
- Regulation 3 support
- apply to the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) to seek Regulation 5 support.
If you do not establish an alternative lawful basis you will need to delete all identifiable information.
Our Confidentiality Advice Team have been supporting applicants to transition to Regulation 5 support to ensure studies can continue without interruption when the general COPI notice expires. If you require Regulation 5 support and have not started this process you should use the remaining time to prepare an application to the CAG. Applications should be submitted no later than 5 May 2022 (eight weeks before the expiry of the COPI notice).
For more information read the COPI transition guidance on our website. If you have any further questions contact cag@hra.nhs.uk.
Invitation to test our aligned approvals
We would like to improve how we support research applications involving the use of identifiable patient data without patient consent.
We are testing a new way to align CAG and Research Ethics Committee (REC) applications, to improve communications between each and to consolidate communications with applicants. We expect the pilot to benefit applicants with reduced timelines and provide a better experience in navigating approvals managed by HRA. You can find more about the pilot and the benefits in this blog by Paul Mills, Confidentiality Advice Service Manager.
If you are preparing your application to CAG and REC and would be willing to participate in this pilot please contact us as soon as possible at cag@hra.nhs.uk for further information.
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