Research governance and diversity: Quality standards for a multi-ethnic NHS

The NHS and its clinical workforce are committed to evidence-based practice, which requires quality evidence to assist and justify change. Such evidence can be used to inform best practice and to create new standards. The risk is that where needs are under-researched, developments - and resources - can be delayed until relevant research is conducted and completed to adequate standards. New research governance regulations have spelled out what these standards should be. However, black and minority ethnic communities, and individuals, express a high level of 'research fatigue', feeling that they have been the objects of much previous research and experimentation. They therefore question whether there is any reason for delays in the implementation of change. The problem is that 'validated' research often excludes their experiences, while that which includes them is rarely 'best practice' or 'peer-reviewed' research. Nevertheless, it does create evidence, and often the research generated by, or based within, communities holds considerable detail and insight. However, it is not 'owned' in turn by the NHS and the scientific establishment.

The research governance regulations provide a framework that might lead to new understandings of best practice in research, create ownership, and generate more inclusive, equitable research with greater validity in a multi-cultural society. Researchers are urged to consider what would assist them to ensure that their studies meet this ideal and comply with scientific and community-based moral standards.