Unifying the Review and Approval Processes in Wales: An
introduction to the UniRAP Project
FORWARD
is an infrastructure support service in Research Management &
Governance. It is part of Clinical Research Collaboration
Cymru (CRC Cymru),
the new R&D infrastructure for health and social care in Wales,
which is the Welsh Assembly Government’s response to the
UKCRC. FORWARD has been commissioned by the Wales
Office of R&D (WORD) to carry out a service
evaluation to unify the review and approval processes for Research
Governance in Wales. The project is entitled UniRAP and it
will be conducted in two phases.
Phase 1 was conducted between January and
April 2007 and it comprised a stakeholder consultation, a baseline
assessment of current review and approval procedures in NHS Trusts
in Wales, plus collection of information on the centralised
processes that are being introduced in other areas of the UK.
Key findings were presented in a short
report to WORD to inform discussions for Phase 2, which will
encompass the development and implementation work to streamline and
unify systems for the review and approval of healthcare research in
Wales.
FORWARD
is also working with the UKCRC and the NHS R&D Forum on the UKCRC
project to ensure compatibility of activities to streamline NHS (or equivalent) permissions and
related systems.