Research in the NHS - Human Resources (HR) Good Practice Resource Pack
The Research in the NHS - Human Resource (HR) Good Practice Resource Pack describes the Research Passport system. The scheme streamlines procedures associated with issuing honorary research contracts or letters of access to researchers who have no contractual arrangements with NHS organisations who host research, and who carry out research in the NHS that affects patient care, or requires access to NHS facilities.
The Department of Health recommends the "Research Passport" to the NHS, to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and to other research employers working in partnership with the NIHR. The
UKCRC Partners endorse the routine use of the Research Passport.
The resource pack was initially developed with extensive support from the NHS R&D Forum working with DoH partners in the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC). The package sets out guidance and good practice standards, underpinned by standard documentation, so that individual NHS bodies can be confident that the process used to carry out criminal record and other checks on honorary researchers is in line with NHS Employment Check Standards. If an NHS body is in any doubt about these checks it should take the action it considers necessary to confirm them.
Following a systematic roll-out of its implementation in England, supported by the NIHR Clinical Research Networks, the HR resource pack has been refined to reflect feedback from users of the scheme, including researchers, HR in the NHS and University sectors. The pack has also been amended to take account of the Vetting and Barring Scheme.
This Good Practice Resource Pack consists of:
- a Research Passport system for HEI researchers who need to undertake their research within NHS organisations, which provides evidence of the pre-engagement checks undertaken on that person in line with NHS Employment Check Standards; and
- standardised procedures for issuing Honorary Research Contracts (HRCs) or Letters of Access (LoAs), in line with the nature of the researchers’ activity, and the NHS and / or employer’s responsibility for that activity
- standardised procedures for handling HR arrangements for NHS and HEIs researchers who need to work across one or more NHS organisations
The Research Passport system and associated procedures have been developed in parallel with the development of the Integrated Research Application System and other arrangements across the UK to streamline the arrangements for obtaining permission for research from NHS organisations.
You can go directly to specific areas of the HR Resource Pack by clicking on the links below. You can also use the
interactive routemap to gain an overview of how the scheme operates for University and NHS Researchers.
HR Good Practice
The Research Passport
Frequently asked questions
Example documents
Background information
Links