NIHR Coordinated System for gaining NHS Permission (CSP) for RM&G Staff

Background

NIHR CSP is a consistent, standardised process for gaining NHS permission in England for NIHR CRN CC Portfolio studies. It has been designed to address all quality assurance and statutory research requirements and will provide a single point of application for investigators (through IRAS). NIHR CSP also ensures clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities of sponsors, investigators, Research Networks and NHS Trusts and establishes time targets for key stages.

The system will be coordinated by the NIHR CSP Unit based within the NIHR Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre (NIHR CRN CC), working in collaboration with the 25 CLRNs. There are national CSP operating guidelines that clearly designate which governance checks are global (undertaken once only per study), which are local (undertaken at every participating site) and who is responsible for carrying them out. This should reduce duplication. NIHR CSP will ultimately produce a governance report which will be used to secure NHS permission.

The system is web-based with a central document repository, meaning that documents only have to be uploaded once and communication between the NIHR CSP Unit and CLRNs should be efficient. The software used to support NIHR CSP is called CSP ReDA.

The key benefits of NIHR CSP are: minimised administrative burden on researchers; a coordinated and standardised approach resulting in more rapid NHS permission across sites; reduced duplication; and a performance managed process.

The role of RM&G staff

RM&G staff at member Trusts will have responsibility for performing the NIHR CSP governance checks for studies involving their Trust and for submitting the governance report for authorisation. They will also be required to provide advice and support to investigators in relation to NIHR CSP.

Operating Guidelines and Procedures

NIHR CSP must be run according to clear national operating guidelines established by the NIHR CRN CC which are available here.

Additional Information

Additional information about NIHR CSP can be found by following the links below:

Last updated: 6 July 2010