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Welcome to HRA Latest with news and updates for those working or involved in health and social care research.
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This month, we’re delighted to share information on a new pilot project which aims to make it easier to set up research involving NHS staff.
We also said farewell to Dr Nicole Mather after four years in her role as Non-Executive Director on our Board, and we marked the achievements of some of our Research Ethics Committee (REC) members.
Chrissie Lawson celebrated 25 years as vice-chair of one of our RECs, and our Cambridge and Hertfordshire REC chair, Dr Simon Kolstoe, published a paper on the role of integrity, ethics and governance in research, which is of course integral to all the work we do at the HRA.
I hope many of you have enjoyed a break over the summer period. As always, for regular updates and the latest news, you can follow us on Twitter @HRA_Latest
Matt Westmore
Chief Executive
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 New pilot making it easier to set up research involving NHS staff
We’ve launched a new pilot to improve the process for setting up research involving NHS staff as participants.
The UK-wide pilot, which has been developed jointly with NHS Research Scotland, Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland and Health Care Research Wales, will reduce the number of questions that researchers need to respond to in their applications for regulatory approval for these types of studies.
This will help save researchers time and means they can start their studies quicker.
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Tell us what you think: guidance on how to involve patients and the public in the design and delivery of clinical trials
Are you involved in the design and delivery of clinical trials in the UK?
We are carrying out a survey to find examples of guidance and other resources currently being used to help involve patients and the public in the design and delivery of clinical trials.
The survey is part of our work with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to develop guidance to support the new UK clinical trials regulations.
The survey closes on 29 September 2023 and should take about 15 minutes to complete.
 Farewell to Dr Nicole Mather
We bid farewell and said a heartfelt thank you to Dr Nicole Mather, after she officially stepped down from her role as Non-Executive Director (NED) at the HRA.
Nicole served as a NED for more than four years and was a trusted advisor across several initiatives, including our work on human-centred design, programme delivery and stakeholder engagement.
We’d like to thank Nicole for all her contributions and wish her the best of luck for the future.
 REC chair publishes paper on research integrity, ethics and governance
A new paper outlining the importance of research integrity, ethics, and governance, has been published by Simon Kolstoe, Chair of our East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire REC.
The paper, published in the Accountability in Research Journal, distinguishes between the three principles and outlines how they are essential to ‘good’ research.
One of our Non-Executive Directors, Professor Andrew George, also contributed to the paper.
 Our response to concerns raised about the ‘Outcomes for children referred to the Gender Identity Development Service’ research study
A research study proposed by the independent review of gender identity services for children and young people (the Cass Review) has been given approval to start. The study is being led by the University of York and will investigate outcomes for children referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS).
The study has received a lot of attention, including from groups representing LGBTQIA+ people. The ethical issues of the research were reviewed by a specialist REC, and the use of confidential patient information without consent were considered by the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG).
 News from across UK research
- the Research Reset programme has achieved its commitment of 80% of open studies on the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) portfolio delivering on time and to target
- the Government has awarded a share of £5 million to projects aimed at tackling fatal overdoses. It supports the Addiction Mission, one of the government’s healthcare missions that target the biggest healthcare challenges. This includes funding innovative research into improved treatments and life-saving technologies to accelerate their development and rollout
- the NIHR and the UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are investing £25m to fund ambitious new research to improve the lives of people with multiple long-term conditions
- the Nuffield Council on Bioethics have released a report, on a project we contributed to, on ethical standards in genomics research
- the NIHR has awarded over £100 million to 20 new Policy Research Units (PRUs) across England. The PRUs will tackle important emerging health and social care issues including reproductive health, addiction and dementia
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HRA Now - operational updates |
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HRA Now sends you everything you need to know where there are changes to the way we work
Our operational updates, HRA Now, includes everything you need to know about changes to the way we work.
Here are some recent updates you may have missed from HRA Now:
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