RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 How the NHS research governance procedures could be modified to greatly strengthen clinical research
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 127
OP 129
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.10-2-127
VO 10
IS 2
A1 Richard Haynes
A1 Louise Bowman
A1 Kazem Rahimi
A1 Jane Armitage
YR 2010
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/10/2/127.abstract
AB Randomised controlled trials are the gold standard for testing the efficacy and safety of health interventions, especially medications, and researchers in the UK are required to gain approval from ethics committees, the regulatory body (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and local NHS research governance departments for such trials. Although research governance is important to reassure trial participants that their rights and interests are protected, current practice is impeding research and presents a genuine threat to the UK and to the NHS's ability to deliver high-quality evidence on which doctors can base clinical decisions and improve the delivery of care. This article discusses recent experience of running large-scale clinical trials and suggests measures that could improve the current situation