%0 Journal Article %A A E While %T Research ethics committees at work: the experience of one multi-location study. %D 1996 %R 10.1136/jme.22.6.352 %J Journal of Medical Ethics %P 352-355 %V 22 %N 6 %X OBJECTIVES: To report the outcome of applications to 43 research ethics committees. SETTING: Four regional health authorities in England. FINDINGS: The research ethics committees varied considerably in their practices. The time lapse until notification of the outcome of the approval ranged from just under one week to 23 weeks with a mean of 8.6 weeks. Four research ethics committees failed to notify the research team of an outcome of their request for approval. CONCLUSION: A national research ethics committee is needed to review national and multi-location research studies in the light of the fragmented and variable practice of local research ethics committees. %U https://jme.bmj.com/content/medethics/22/6/352.full.pdf