Kw. Ahsee et al., LOCAL RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVAL FOR A NATIONAL STUDY IN SCOTLAND, Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 43(5), 1998, pp. 303-305
The handling of research proposals by different ethics committees has
been reported as varying widely from one district to another. Multicen
tre research projects are particularly liable to delay when dealing wi
th several individual committees. We recently pet-formed a nation-wide
postal questionnaire study in Scotland on young patients with oral or
oropharyngeal cancer. Our experience indicates that despite calls for
standardization of the processes involved wide variations still exist
between committees. Fifteen out of 19 committees approached had uniqu
e application forms, the number of copies of forms and other documenta
tion required ranged from one to 20, and the time to final approval ra
nged from 39 to 182 days (mean of 90 days). Improved training and a st
andardized constitution of committee members is required. A uniform na
tional application form and improved co-operation between neighbouring
committees is needed.