Ethics approval for multicentre research is expensive, slow, and inconsistent

Once approval has been given by the multiresearch ethics committee local committees are meant to consider only local issues. On p 1179 Tully et al present an audit from a national study submitted to a single multicentre research ethics committee and 125 local committees. Only 40% of the committees dealt with the requests in the way specified and the process involved the production of 105 888 sheets of pages of application and led to delays in recruiting patients. A similar study by Lux et al (p 1182) shows that a proposal submitted to 99 local research ethics committees after approval by a multiresearch ethics committee produced a response within the recommended 21 days from only 33 committees. 82 approved the submission at first review. The authors conclude that approval of a multicentre research proposal remains expensive and time consuming.

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