NHS population screening Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Annual Summary: 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020
Updated 1 June 2021
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-population-screening-research-advisory-committee-approved-projects/nhs-population-screening-research-advisory-committee-rac-annual-summary-1-april-2019-to-31-march-2020
RACs consider applications from researchers and typically involve requests:
- to get hold of screening programme data
- to invite screening participants to take part in a project
- to obtain screening samples, for example newborn blood spot cards
1. RAC activity
Information in this section relates to number of enquiries and applications by each individual RAC, followed by an annual total.
1.1 Enquiries
The 6 PHE Screening RACs received 87 new enquiries between them during the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020.
| List of RACs | Number of enquiries |
|---|---|
| Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) RAC | 13 |
| Antenatal and Newborn (ANNB) RAC | 16 |
| Bowel cancer screening programme (BCSP) RAC | 19 |
| Breast screening programme (BSP) RAC | 20 |
| Cervical screening programme (CSP) RAC | 16 |
| Diabetic eye screening (DES) RAC | 3 |
| Total | 87 |
1.2 Applications
The 6 PHE Screening RACs received 64 new applications — 50 of which were full applications and 14 pre-applications.
| List of RACs | Full applications | Pre-applications |
|---|---|---|
| AAA | 8 | 2 |
| ANNB | 12 | 3 |
| BCSP | 6 | 4 |
| BSP | 14 | 4 |
| CSP | 7 | 0 |
| DES | 3 | 1 |
| Total | 50 | 14 |
2. RAC review outcomes
In total, 37 projects had a fully supported decision from the RACs in the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. This section gives a list of outcomes by each RAC.
2.1 AAA RAC
The AAA RAC met twice in 2019 to 2020 — on 8 May 2019 and 6 November 2019. During those 2 meetings, they reviewed 8 applications. Of these:
- 3 were fully supported
- 3 were conditionally supported
- 2 were pre-applications and both were provisionally supported
2.2 ANNB RAC
The ANNB RAC reviews applications relating to all 6 ANNB screening programmes. It met 3 times in 2019 to 2020 — on 9 May 2019, 23 September 2019 and 5 February 2020. During those 3 meetings, they reviewed 15 applications (see table below).
| List of screening programmes covered by the ANNB RAC | Number of applications |
|---|---|
| Fetal anomaly screening programme (FASP) | 1 |
| Infectious diseases in pregnancy screening (IDPS) programme | 3 |
| Newborn and infant physical examination (NIPE) screening programme | 1 |
| Newborn blood spot (NBS) screening programme | 8 |
| Newborn hearing screening programme (NHSP) | 2 |
| Sickle cell and thalassaemia (SCT) screening programme | 0 |
| Total | 15 |
Of these 15:
- 10 were fully supported
- 2 were conditionally supported
- 1 was a pre-application and was provisionally supported
- 2 were not supported
2.3 BCSP RAC
The BCSP RAC met 4 times in 2019 to 2020 — on 16 April 2019, 17 July 2019, 8 October 2019 and 14 January 2020. During those 4 meetings, they reviewed 10 applications. Of these:
- 4 were fully supported
- 2 were conditionally supported
- 3 were not supported
- 1 was ‘out of scope’
2.4 BSP RAC
The BSP RAC met 4 times in 2019 to 2020 — on 12 June 2019, 18 September 2019, 11 December 2019 and 4 March 2020. During those 4 meetings, they reviewed 19 applications. Of these:
- 13 were fully supported
- 3 were conditionally supported
- 2 were not supported
- 1 was a pre-application and was provisionally supported
2.5 CSP RAC
The CSP RAC met 4 times in 2019 to 2020 — on 3 May 2019, 19 July 2019, 31 October 2019 and 23 January 2020. During those 4 meetings, they reviewed 7 applications. Of these:
- 6 were fully supported
- 1 was not supported
2.6 DES RAC
The DES RAC met twice in 2019 to 2020 — on 4 September 2019 and 29 January 2020. During those 2 meetings, they reviewed 3 applications. Of these:
- 1 was fully supported
- 1 was a pre-application and was provisionally supported
- 1 was not supported
3. Monitoring the impact of supported projects
Each RAC monitors the findings of projects they support and information is fed back to PHE Screening programme teams. This information can be used to inform screening programmes of new evidence relevant to national policy. We were aware of 8 publications between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020 which received RAC support.
Information about each of these publications and a full list of RAC supported projects is listed in the Register of RAC approvals.