Review of the National Ethical Standards for Health and Disability Research and Quality Improvement

It had been just over a year since the revised National Ethical Standards for Health and Disability Research and Quality Improvement were published when consultation was sought. The Standards apply to all health and disability research and quality improvement in New Zealand and set out the ethical requirements that:

• researchers must meet or exceed when undertaking health and disability research
• health service providers and disability service providers must meet or exceed when conducting quality improvement activities. (Health service providers include health service workers, nurses, clinicians and any person involved in quality improvement.)

The intention is that the Standards are a living document, reviewed annually, and updated where necessary to ensure that they stay fit for purpose.

The National Ethics Advisory Committee was interested to hear feedback about how stakeholders were finding working with the Standards. The closing date for feedback was 31 May 2021.