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Biotechnology company Amgen was keen to get HRA Approval for an international research study into the effectiveness of a new treatment for patients with aggressive B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The first study to ever go through HRA Approval has now been completed. The study, led by NHS South Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), looked into interagency working across local health agencies, local authorities and the police in safeguarding adults, and involved interviews with members of the local safeguarding adults board. The application was made in May 2015, during HRA Approval’s phased roll-out.

Health and social care researchers used to be faced with a very complex regulatory system – everyone agreed we needed a new approach. So we consulted with a wide range of stakeholders to develop HRA Approval, which brings together the assessment of legal compliance and the ethics review into one streamlined system.

Researchers working across the four United Kingdom countries should find it easier to set up and carry out health research across the NHS and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (HSC). This is thanks to the UK research approval bodies carrying out a new programme of work to implement.

We’ve worked with the NHS R&D Forum to create a short animation to explain HRA Approval and to illustrate the experience of researchers applying for approvals before and after its development.

Twitter users searching for #HRAtips can get advice on submitting studies for HRA Approval as part of a new campaign to help applicants avoid common mistakes in their research proposals.

‘Significant progress’ has been made in medical research regulation and governance over the past 5 years, according to a report of an Academy of Medical Sciences workshop published this week.

A combined IRAS form that merges the Research Ethics Committee (REC) and R&D forms is now being used across the UK.

We have developed six new eLearning modules as an aid for researchers, R&D staff, study sponsors, research ethics committee members and the wider research community.

The use of electronic signatures and authorisations is becoming increasingly common. We’ve had queries about their validity in protocols and other documents and we’d like to clarify that we accept them as an alternative to ink signatures.

Janet Wisely is to step down as Chief Executive of the Health Research Authority. Janet has experienced an unexpected and life changing health situation, which has meant significant adjustments. After careful reflection and discussion with her family and colleagues, she is now stepping down after concluding that she is unlikely to recover the mental or physical stamina that is required for that very demanding role.

It is a source of real pride across the HRA to see how many health research studies the HRA has reviewed. Since we fully implemented HRA Approval last March, more than 5,000 applications have been approved by our expert teams.

If you are a regular visitor to the HRA’s current website, you may share the view of many of our users that the site is increasingly difficult to navigate and it can be hard to find the information you need.

The HRA is working with the devolved nations to develop an integrated, UK-wide approach for undertaking technical reviews on research involving pharmacy and/or ionising radiation.

We are an organisation committed to collaboration – listening to and working with others to identify and make improvements to the health research environment.

Recommendations to the government on the long-term success of the UK life sciences sector have been published today. Life Science’s Champion Professor Sir John Bell’s report aims to put the UK in a world-leading position to take advantage of the health technology trends of the next 20 years through the establishment of the Health Advanced Research Programme.

Earlier this summer the HRA published its annual report. Among the detailed review of twelve months’ of work, there are some particularly interesting statistics that we’d like to share:

We've improved the HRA website to make it easier to navigate and find information. It's a work in progress.

The Social Care Research Ethics Committee currently has vacancies for expert members who are interested in thinking about the issues from the perspective of a potential research participant and would like to develop knowledge of research ethics. We're particularly interested in receiving applications from health care or social work professionals working in mental health or social care.

Transparency, public involvement, safety and proportionality must be at the centre of UK health research, a new position statement published today has demanded.