In Whose Interests? Local Research Ethics Committees and Service User Research

Abstract

In recent years, the United Kingdom has witnessed a growing emphasis on service user involvement in health and social care research as well as on the governance and ethical conduct of research. Despite this, these two developments often seem to have taken place in isolation from each other, and very few commentators to date have sought to explore the relationship between involvement and research ethics. Against this background, this paper reports findings from a small exploratory study of the membership of NHS research ethics committees in a case study English region. In particular, this revealed the dominance of medical practitioners, other health service professionals and academics, with most ‘lay’ members seen as non-experts and often either retired or serving as hospital chaplains. Despite this, there are some encouraging signs in the wider policy environment that may mean the link between service user involvement and research ethics becomes more established in the future.