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Welcome to HRA Latest, with news and updates for everyone working or involved in health and social care research.
Our new report dives into our data to find a promising 74% of studies are involving patients and the public and telling us about it. Read on for more.
And, we have the latest on the development of our new strategy. Earlier this month we brought some of you together to share insights which are driving forward our work, and we share a blog about next steps as we lead up to the launch of the new strategy this summer.
I'm also very pleased to share that we’ve been recognised by the Institute of Regulation for our approach to working in partnership.
As always thank you for reading HRA Latest.
For the latest news from the HRA, you can follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for updates on specific topics you're interested in.
Matt Westmore
Chief Executive
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 Public involvement in health and social care research report
Around three quarters of health and social care studies are involving patients and the public in their research according to our latest analysis of data.
We sampled the nearly 4,000 studies which received a favourable opinion from a Research Ethics Committee in 2023, which showed that overall 74% of studies told us that they had involved patients and the public in their research.
Our analysis showed that although there were some great examples of public involvement, the approach is not consistent across all types of research.
The data from this report will be used to create a baseline to measure the impact of the Health Research Authority's (HRA) efforts to improve the extent and quality of public involvement in health and social care research.
We will be reviewing data from 2024 next and plan to publish levels of public involvement in studies on an annual basis going forward.
 HRA wins Institute of Regulation award for collaborative practice
We have been recognised by the Institute of Regulation for our collaborative work with organisations across health and social care research sector.
Our Chief Executive, Matt Westmore, attended the Institution of Regulation Annual Conference on 27 March to receive the Collaborative Practice award on behalf of the organisation.
The award celebrates those working at the forefront of regulatory practice, leading cross-sectoral collaboration with other regulators or stakeholders to achieve maximum impact.
We were recognised for our ongoing work to bring together the health and social care research sector and maximise our collective impact on research.
 Shaping the HRA strategy workshop
Earlier this month we held a workshop to give an update on the work we’ve been doing to develop our new strategy.
We shared our progress with staff, members of the HRA community, Board members and stakeholders, and asked for their feedback on our plans.
The workshop took place online and in person at our London office and was attended by more than 100 people.
You can find out more about the event and the development of our new strategy in a blog from our Senior Engagement Manager, Will Griffiths-Stent.
 New paper supporting research decision tools
How do you know if your project counts as research?
Dr Simon Kolstoe is a Research Ethics Committee Chair who also chairs the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee and the UK Health Security Agency Research Ethics and Governance Group.
Working alongside a group of researchers that includes Janet Messer, our Director of Approvals, together they have published a paper which is designed to help researchers and others involved in project governance to understand when an NHS research ethics review is needed.
 Better engagement, better evidence: working in partnership with patients, the public, and communities in clinical trials with involvement and good participatory practice
Becky Purvis, Director of Policy and Partnerships, and Barbara Molony-Oates, Public Involvement Manager, have been involved in the development of a suite of papers focused on shaping the future of clinical trials that have been published in the Lancet.
These academic papers focus on topics including the importance of engaging the public, patients and communities in research, as well as the timely regulatory and ethics approvals of clinical trials.
The papers have been co-ordinated by the World Health Organisation ahead of their first Global Clinical Trials Forum taking place in Geneva which the Health Research Authority will be attending.
 Celebrating the third anniversary of the Shared Commitment
Earlier this month we celebrated the third anniversary of the launch of the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement.
The Shared Commitment was launched in 2022 and has grown to include more than 30 leading health and social care organisations who have come together to improve the quality of public involvement in the research sector.
To mark the anniversary, our Shared Commitment partners have been sharing updates and blogs about the work they’ve been doing over the past 12 months to promote and encourage public involvement.
 Key milestone for NHS Innovation Service
This month the NHS Innovation Service passed a significant milestone having now supported more than 1,000 innovations.
The Health Research Authority is one of the organisations working alongside the service which is designed to support innovations that meet the NHS' biggest challenges.
So far the service has supported more than 150 innovations relating to cardiovascular conditions, 119 which support respiratory conditions, 93 which support women’s health and 190 which support mental health.
 Streamlining and reform of study set-up
We’re presenting at a webinar on Wednesday 2 April on the work we are leading to streamline and reform the set-up and delivery of all clinical trials. This piece of work is a key priority for the government.
The webinar is part of our work with UK Clinical Research Delivery (UKCRD), which is a cross-sector programme that brings together organisations from the UK health and social care research sector, to achieve a faster, more efficient, more accessible and more innovative clinical research delivery.
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