Imagine a future where Australia is a leading destination for health and medical research. Have your say on improving ethics review processes.
The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (the Department), in collaboration with all state and territory governments via the Inter-Governmental Policy Reform Group (IGPRG), is working on national reforms to improve how health and medical research is conducted.
The national reforms will make it easier and safer for researchers, industry and participants to conduct, invest and take part in, high-quality and ethical human research, including clinical trials for rare diseases.
One major reform is the introduction of quality standards and an accreditation scheme for Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) and their host institutions.
HRECs promote the ethical conduct of human research by providing advice on the protection of research participants and the scientific validity of the research. In Australia, HRECs are usually established and resourced by a host institution, which may be a hospital, a university, a medical research institute, a government agency or a private organisation.
Right now, ethics review processes can be inconsistent and inefficient, leading to delays. This can slow down research and reduce public trust in the ethics review system.
The Department has developed a set of Quality Standards for HRECs. These standards aim to improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of ethics reviews while maintaining high ethical integrity.
Institutions and their HRECs will be assessed by an independent body, to check if their ethics review processes meet these new standards. Accreditation will show that their ethics review processes are reliable and of high quality.
All Australian HRECs reviewing health and medical research, across the public, private, university and not-for-profit sectors will be able to apply for accreditation to the Quality Standards. A national accreditation system will:
- Help make ethics reviews more consistent
- Reduce duplication
- Speed up research approvals
- Increase transparency
- Build trust and confidence in ethics reviews
- Reassure communities about their participation in health and medical research.
The Department want to hear your views on the draft Quality Standards for HRECs and their host institutions and the options for accreditation. National public consultations on the Quality Standards will be held from 3 March to 17 April 2025, and can be accessed via this webpage or by scanning the QR code below.
Quality Standards and the future Accreditation Scheme for Human Research Ethics Committees and Their Host Institutions
Please join the Department for an information session about the Quality Standards and the future Accreditation Scheme for HRECs and their host institutions on Wednesday, 2 April at 11:00 am – 12:00 noon AEDT. You can register via this webpage.
For more information about these reforms, please visit the Australian Clinical Trials website.
