Health Research Authority a step closer

Plans to set up the Health Research Authority (HRA) have taken a significant step forward.

Legislation to establish HRA, which will provide a new pathway for the regulation and governance of health research, has been laid before Parliament.

The HRA, which will be created initially as a Special Health Authority and will have the National Research Ethics Service at its core, will be part of the Government’s commitments announced in the Plan for Growth in March.

Its aims are to streamline regulation, create a unified approval process, and promote proportionate standards for compliance and inspection within a consistent national system of research governance.

The Academy of Medical Sciences carried out an independent review of medical research regulation and governance and reported its findings in January.

It recommended rationalising research regulation into a new arm’s length body in a way that will: facilitate NHS trusts’ timely approval of research studies; improve the UK environment for clinical trials; provide access to patient data that protects individuals’ interests; and embed a culture that values research within the NHS.

Other areas of development within the Department of Health’s plan are to launch a Research Support Services framework of good practice and standard procedures to facilitate consistent local research management and greatly improve performance, and publish outcomes against public benchmarks; reduce perceived gold-plating and increase the proportionality of the EU Clinical Trials Directive and its application; and build a consensus on using e-health record data to create a unique position for the UK in health research embed nationally.

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