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Ethical review of a multicentre study in Scotland: a weighty problem
1Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh.
Objective:
To assess the current working practices of local research ethics committees (LRECs) in their review of a multicentre study approved by the new multicentre research ethics committee in Scotland.
Design:
Observational data collected from correspondence with LRECs.
Subjects:
All LRECs within the geographical area of the study in Scotland.
Interventions:
None.
Outcome Measures:
Delay from application to calling an LREC meeting, to an initial LREC decision, to final LREC approval, and the number of A4 pages required.
Results:
The median delay to review of an application at an LREC meeting was 28 days (range 14-97), the median delay from application to the time of LREC final approval was 39 days (range 21-109) and a total of 5,789 A4 pages (26.9 kg) were required to complete the application process.
Conclusions:
Despite recent standardisation of ethical review of multicentre research, elimination of unnecessary delay, cost and variation in LREC operating procedures is still necessary.