Safety recommendation
HSIB recommends that the National Institute for Health Research assesses the priority, feasibility and impact of future research on processes for second checking medication, and considers the most appropriate way of building up the evidence base on this topic.
Response:
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing. Working with those who use, plan and deliver health services in the UK, we identify and prioritise important topics to fund through specific calls for research.
Following referral from HSIB, the safety recommendation for ‘Weight- based medication errors in children’ will be considered through the NIHR’s established research commissioning processes with the aim of developing practical and deliverable research calls which will provide the evidence needed by decision makers.
After an initial ‘in-house’ assessment of the topic to determine what is already known (the existing evidence base), we will engage with a wide range of individuals with a broad spectrum of knowledge, skills and expertise to develop research question(s) which address outstanding uncertainties. Our engagement will include patients, members of the public, academics, subject experts, clinical staff, service managers and public health professionals.
The research question will then be considered by the NIHR’s relevant programme specific prioritisation committees who review and advise on the development of NIHR commissioned calls and make recommendations about future advertisements.
Actions planned to deliver safety recommendation:
- Identify tractable research question and develop NIHR call specification, by approximately May to June 2022. This activity will include an in-depth review of the current evidence base which may identify existing research studies which already address the evidence gap/question and therefore negate the need for further primary research.
- NIHR call specification considered by relevant NIHR Prioritisation Committee, by July 2022.
- If prioritised, call specification sent for external peer review, by July to September 2022.
- NIHR call specification considered for advertisement by the relevant NIHR Programme Oversight Committee, by October 2022.
- Call advertised (if prioritised by the above) by late 2022, but this date may be subject to change.
Response received on 3 May 2022.