Research

Research Governance Framework (RGF)

In 2001, the Department of Health introduced the RGF within the National Health Service (NHS). Its main focus was to ensure all aspects of research were compliant and regulated to modern audited standards. This was particularly in the field of clinical trials involving the public.

Since then, RGF has been used to good effect, and has professionalised the whole approach to research within the NHS. The government decided to include RGF within all local authorities responsible for social care since December 2005. Implementation of RGF has been subject to inspection since Spring 2006.

RGF sets out a number of standards and procedures for anyone involved in research, in five areas:

Ethics
Finance
Health and Safety
Information
Science

In general, councils with social services responsibilities are required to:

Be aware of what research is being undertaken
Ensure that the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of researchers and participants are protected
Safeguard researcher’s integrity
Ensure compliance with standards
Take full responsibility for how research is carried out

Research is a widely interpreted term, and will include both interviews and customer satisfaction surveys, carried out in the course of day-to-day business.

The main emphasis of RGF is to be inclusive, seeking to improve all aspects of the proposed research, and provide a means to satisfactorily interpret the results, and then let the wider public know via a National Research Database.

We also keep a record of Salford adult social care research, which we are feeding into the Partners IN Salford research and good practice database.