Setting up a research programme
We want to enable you get your research off the ground as quickly and easily as possible by helping you to cost a project and advise you on how to progress your application through the approvals process. As your
research activities will hopefully continue over many years, the more we can do to support you, the better the outcome.
Research is controlled by the Trust and by Parliament and researchers must follow strict processes to ensure patient safety. Our Research Facilitators offer an advice service, helping researchers to get research up and running, while our Governance Specialists ensure that research meets governance legislative requirements and Trust policy.
Research Governance Framework
Under the Department of Health Research Governance Framework for Health & Social Care 2005, all research taking place within the NHS must have management approval from the 'host organisation'.
This means that any research that uses NHS patients, their data or tissue, staff, premises or resources (that is, the pharmacy or laboratories) must have obtained the approval of the relevant NHS Trust as well as ethics approval before the study can commence.
King’s currently has more than 500 research projects running; these range from testing new surgical devices or drugs, studies aimed at helping us better understand mental health issues, through to questionnaire-based studies.
Research at King's must comply with national guidelines and best practice, including obtaining necessary approvals, as well as Trust policies.
R&D Operational Capability Statement
King's maintains an R&D Operational Capability Statement as part of the NIHR’s Research Support Services Framework for good practice in local health research management. This provides an overview of the clinical services, facilities and resources available to support R&D. It aims to improve research collaboration and effectiveness and is intended to be shared with networks, industry, researchers and sponsors.
Our King's R&D Operational Capability (RDOC) statement (RDOCS) sets out the Trust’s commitment to R&D and the roles and responsibilities of those delivering these commitments. The document has been endorsed by the Trust Board and is reviewed regularly.
How to establish if the project is research
We are often asked if a project is audit, evaluation or research. Visit Is your project research? to establish this before going to the next step.
Research funding
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and its partners
Research funded by NIHR and partners should be eligible for adoption onto the United Kingdom Clinical Research Network (UKCRN). It is important to note that in future the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) will be the only route for access to NHS Service Support Costs in England (together with more targeted support for specific infrastructure awards, including Experimental Medicine Facilities, Biomedical Research Centres and Units, and Technology Platforms). NHS Support for Science Funding allocations to organisations providing NHS services will no longer exist.
Studies that are accepted for inclusion in the Portfolio will therefore have automatic access to NHS Service Support Costs via the NIHR CRN, and access to Treatment Costs via the normal arrangements for commissioning patient care. Studies that are not in the Portfolio will not have automatic access to Service Support Costs and will not have automatic access to the resources, including active research management, of the UKCRN.