Tighter controls on clinical research in the NHS are to be introduced by the government in response to a highly critical review of a study carried out at North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust.

The review has raised serious concerns over the issue of consent for a trial on neonates with respiratory failure run by Professor David Southall, consultant paediatrician at the hospital. The randomised controlled trial looked at the effect of treating premature babies with continuous negative extrathoracic …