The National Institute for Health Research has published a standards framework for local NHS research management. The NIHR Research Support Services framework will enable NHS R&D offices to offer a consistent, streamlined and risk-proportionate service to support research in the NHS in England.

Intensive engagement with research managers and other stakeholders has produced a consensus-based set of guidelines and tools to support good practice, including:
• a trust R&D operational capability statement that empowers the R&D office to manage processes effectively within the organisation;
• planning tools that enable the R&D office, with the principal investigator, to assess quickly and manage the key risks in order to complete the NHS permission process and deliver the study; and
• guidelines for standard operating procedures that help develop consistent, streamlined and risk-proportionate research governance practice across the NHS in England.

The study analysed data collected from the PoNDER clinical trial, funded by the NIHR HTA programme. This trial, led by Dr Jane Morrell, now at the University of Nottingham, tested the effectiveness of health visitors in identifying and managing postnatal depression following child birth.

This event allows research trainees to present posters of their work, to network and meet other trainees, to share experiences, take part in workshops and other learning experiences and to find out more about the NIHR. 

The 1st European Conference for Social Work Research is being held on 23 - 25 March 2011 at St. Catherine's College, Oxford.

The inaugural conference is held in association with the NIHR School for Social Care Research.

Robin Murray is Professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He is distinguished for his major original contribution to the paradigm shift from the view of schizophrenia as an adult-onset psychosis to the view that it is an early-onset neurodevelopmental disorder.

The Catalan agency is a public non-profit company reporting to the Catalan Health Service. It provides information based on scientific evidence and helps to improve disease prevention, health and the quality of life of the people of Catalonia.

The study, led by Dr Glenn Roberts of Kings College London, examined previous research on how healthcare organisations make decisions about which technologies to use. The research team investigated what dimensions are critical in determining whether improvements are understood and put into practice. The three year project published its report in October 2009.

Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are a key group of workers within the NHS which is often under-utilised finds a new report published by the NIHR SDO programme.

A team of researchers, led by Dr Ian Kessler of the University of Oxford, have assessed the use and consequences of support worker roles in hospitals from the perspective of different stakeholders. They looked at whether these roles vary between and within hospitals, between different departments, and by different supporting roles.

The three year study explored the personal characteristics and backgrounds of healthcare assistants and their workplace activities, the shape and nature of support roles.

NIHR Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Cooperative and industrial design consultancy Frazer-Nash Consultancy are providing children with disabilities and their carers an opportunity to take part in a Dragons’ Den style workshop - using their everyday experience to help create a new wheelchair that will dramatically improve their quality of life.

The first swine flu themed issue of the Health Technology Assessment journal series has published. This special issue (Vol. 14:34) contains the full results of the first five NIHR funded projects to complete along with one Cochrane review.

Dr Jonathan Sheffield OBE will take up the position of Chief Executive Officer, National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network on 1 October 2010.

Dr Sheffield is currently Medical Director at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.

In response to growing concern about reporting biases, and advocacy for registration of systematic reviews, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) is leading an initiative to establish an international register of ongoing systematic reviews.

The register will be free of charge and will work in a similar way to clinical trials registers allowing researchers to prospectively record key features of their systematic reviews. Fuller details about the project have just been published in The Lancet.

In order to arrive at an internationally agreed minimum data set for registration, a consultation exercise is now being undertaken. The opinions of international experts in systematic review, methodology, commissioning, and guideline development in health and social care and journal editors around the world are being sought.

Professor Lesley Stewart, Director of CRD, said “We believe the register will promote research transparency, reduce the potential for bias and should lead to improved quality of systematic reviews and the decisions that rely upon them. It should also help avoid duplication and support the efficient use of research funding. Following publication of the 2009 PRISMA statement, CRD received a number of unsolicited applications for registration of review protocols, which we believe indicates that the systematic review community is ready to support this initiative.”

The Government has set out its vision for the NHS in the White Paper, "Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS", published on 12 July.

The INVOLVE conference offers an opportunity for people with a common interest in public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research to share knowledge and learning.

This course, organised by the NHS R&D Forum with Research and Innovation Ltd, has been developed in response to national policy initiatives which will require every NHS organisation to review their strategies around research and innovation.