A new vision for the delivery of clinical research has been announced by the Government which is designed to improve the processes through which researchers can design and deliver their work. The vision will strengthen the UK’s renowned expertise in the research area and its position as a world-class country in terms of research standards. It is expected that patients and staff will benefit greatly from having research dedicated towards the improvement of their experiences in the NHS being supported by the Government.

Research is to be embedded into the NHS system, more efficient processes will be fomented and research made more diverse and accessible for experts and wider public accessing it for their use. “Saving and improving lives: the future of UK clinical research delivery” is the title of the vision published by the DHSC today. It will focus on areas such as streamlining of costs, simplifying research grant applications and the HRA’s rapid ethics review pilot as part of its improvement programme. The NHS will be tasked with building a positive attitude among staff and health leaders towards the area of clinical research and its delivery, impact on the service. Clinical research during the pandemic has exhibited its wide-ranging benefits, such as the RECOVERY trial into COVID-19 treatments. The UK’s research has also made a leading contribution to the international vaccine effort which demonstrated a new pathway to normality.

Launch of the UK-wide vision will be followed by implementation plans and strategies setting out how the UK Government and devolved administrations will begin to deliver the vision during 2021 to 2022. “By taking advantage of our world-renowned research expertise, and a strong partnership between business, academia, the NHS and government, we are determined to make the UK the best possible place to carry out clinical research that will improve the health of people here and across the world”, said Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock regarding the vision’s publication.

You can read BIVDA's thoughts on the paper on the press release here.