Our core purpose is to protect and promote the interests of patients and the public in health and social care research. To achieve this, we follow the guiding principles set out in our strategy and ensure that research is ethically reviewed.
In addition to our research approvals process, which includes ethical review, we actively work with organisations in the health and research sector to continually improve and support best practice.
What we are working on
We are currently looking at how research participants are treated if they lose their capacity after consenting to take part in longitudinal research, which can last decades or even a lifetime.
Because of the long periods of time involved, some participants may lose the ability to make decisions for themselves. This could be due to a medical condition such as dementia, a cognitive impairment, or an injury. This raises ethical and practical issues about the right thing to do for the person taking part, particularly around their ability to consent to continued involvement.
We held an event with Genomics England and Our Future Health to hear a range of perspectives about this topic.
Our work as part of UKCRD to streamline and reform study set-up
In addition to the HRA’s role in reviewing research applications, one of our key functions as an organisation is to co-ordinate and standardise the processes that researchers, sponsors and research sites have to follow.
Once we have approved a research application, it is important to get the study started as quickly as possible so people can take part.
Doing this quickly means the study is completed faster, and the potential benefits are realised sooner.
While progress has been made in accelerating regulatory approvals (something that’s a key part of our strategy) delays in site set-up remain a challenge, particularly in commercial research.