NHS Research Ethics Committee
You research proposals have to be looked through by an NHS Research Ethics Committee if you want to use or do the following:
- Research involving NHS patients and their close relatives, their data or tissue.
- Research involving NHS staff where the research is not limited to non-sensitive questions about their personal role.
- A social care research project funded by the Department of Health.
- Research involving prisoners in the custody of the National Offender Management Service, the Scottish Prison Service or the Northern Ireland Prison Service, where the research is health-related.
- Storing or using the tissue of a living or deceased person for a research project on premises without a license from the Human Tissue Authority (HTA).
- Storing or using tissue from the living for a research project without consent where the samples are anonymised to the researcher.
- Analysing human DNA in material from the body of a living person (or using the results of DNA analysis) without consent, in circumstances where the researcher is can't identify the tissue donor and isn't likely to be able to do so in the future.
- Storing or using tissue for a research project where consent is required and the tissue is from adults unable to consent for themselves.
- Exporting tissue from the living and there is no consent in place for use in future research.
- Using previously collected tissue when past or present NHS patients could be identified.
If you are using human tissue from the Research Tissue Bank (RTB) under approval conditions, you will be considered as having ethical approval under the terms of the RTB's ethical approval. This means that you will not need a license from the HTA to store or carry out research on those tissue samples. You will also not need to apply for project-specific National Research Ethics Service (NRES) approval from the RTB. More information on what research needs NHS ethical review can be found on the NHS Health Research Authority website: