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The Health Research Authority

Established in December 2011, the Health Research Authority protects people who take part in research and make it easier for researchers to do more cutting-edge health and social care research in the UK.

People want to be involved in research

73% of people would be interested in taking part in health research.

59% of people think it is important or extremely important for the public to be able to play a role in health research.

Reference: Wellcome Monitor 2020: How the British public engage with health research.

More cutting-edge research in the UK benefits people and the economy

Every £1 invested in medical research delivers a return equivalent to around 25p every year, forever.

Reference: Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health Research, Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical Research Council, Arthritis UK (2017) Medical research: What’s it worth? Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK

'research is a way for people to play a vital role in helping others, both at home and abroad.'

Department of Health and Social Care, The Executive Office (Northern Ireland), Scottish Government, Welsh Government, (2021) Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery

All UK health and social care research that will involve people, their tissue or their data must get a number of approvals before it can go ahead.

In 2020, we:

Approved 4503 studies

Reference: Total number of applications that were reviewed by an English Research Ethics Committee plus applications given HRA approval in 2020. Studies that received both HRA approval and English REC approval are counted as one study.

Provided 111 radiation assurances and 62 pharmacy assurances

Reference: For the 2020 calendar year. Of the 111 radiation assurances, 105 HRA Managed, 6 self-managed. Of the 62 pharmacy assurances, 54 HRA managed, 8 self-managed

81% user satisfaction.

Reference: Average of 2020 research review service satisfaction monthly ratings.

Our people make us and all play a crucial role in our achievements

264 staff

5 non-executive Directors

825 Research Ethics Committee members in England

26 Confidentiality Advisory Group members

91 members of our Public Involvement Network

226 Technical Assurance reviewers

The National Research and Ethics Advisor’s Panel provides advice on an ad hoc basis.

Our future

We have achieved a lot over the past ten years. Help us to shape the next ten.

“the HRA has a key role to play in continuing to streamline the system to make the UK an attractive place to do high-quality research, while influencing the research culture in the UK to embed a real partnership with patients and the public that dismantles barriers and incentivises participation. This will help us do more high-quality research that is truly inclusive and improves peoples’ lives.”

Professor Lucy Chappell

DHSC Chief Scientific Adviser

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Our first ten years:

Reducing duplication

Over half of applications to the HRA are for research that will take place in multiple places, from 2 to over 300.

HRA Approval, technical assurances and model agreements are all reducing duplication, saving money and time and allowing everyone involved to focus on doing good research.

Streamlining

We receive around 1000 applications to conduct Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products (CTIMPs) a year, which also need MHRA approval. Combined review means researchers can make one application. It halves the time it takes for these studies to get approval and cuts the time from application to recruiting a first patient by 50 days.

Reference: Comparison of timelines for CTIMPs going through separate and combined review from 2018 to present.

A UK-wide approach

We work closely with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to make it easier to do research all over the UK.

This ensures that anybody taking part in health and social care research in the UK can expect the same standards, wherever they live.

This includes a shared policy framework and a single application form for researchers.

Proportionate ethics review

We want to make ethics review more innovative, efficient and trusts. We’re listening to feedback and working with partners to make change happen.

99% of ethics approvals of clinical trials are completed in 60 days, taking a median of 25 days

Reference: Ethical review of CTIMPs (non-combined) (2021 January to October figures)

Increasing transparency

12% of clinical trials are not registered and 25% of clinical trials of medicines are not reported. We are changing that.

From January 2022 we will automatically register clinical trials, starting with clinical trials of new medicines. We are also asking researchers at the end of the study if they have reported their results.

Reference: HRA (2021) Research Transparency Annual Report 2021

Increasing public involvement

In 2010, just 19% of HRA research applications had public input. By 2019, 74% of applications did so, which we know results in better research.

Leading the way

Our expertise can help develop new approaches so that researchers can use new research techniques and technologies with public confidence. This helps establish world-leading research initiatives in the UK such as Genomics England. We are now working to realise the potential of data-driven technologies and AI.

A world-leading response to COVID-19

We approved 1357 COVID-19 studies between April 2020 and September 2021.

Our fast track approvals service for the most urgent COVID-19 research reduced the average research review timelines by 90% to 5 days for HRA Approval.

Our new Fast Track ethics approval – which builds on our learnings from the pandemic - has halved the time it takes to review and approve research proposals from 28 days to 14.

Reference: Median approval time for full REC in 2021 (Jan to October) is 28 days, for Fast track REC this is 14 days.