Western Health has decided to manage approval of research as a three-tier process:

1)      Quality Assurance Applications: via the Low Risk Human Research Ethics Panel - To be approved by a single member of the panel and tabled at panel meetings.

2)      Negligible and Low Risk Applications: via the Low Risk Human Research Ethics Panel - To be approved by the panel at monthly meetings.

3)      Higher Risk Applications: via the Melbourne Health Human Research Ethics Committee - To be approved by the committee at monthly meetings.Column Information

The Western Health Low Risk Human Research Ethics Panel is constituted according to the requirements of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC). The function of this panel is to consider the ethical implications of research applications submitted to the panel for review and to evaluate the ethical conduct of the research. The panel will be responsible for review of all quality assurance, negligible risk and low risk research from the Western Health Network.

Members and Terms of Reference of the Western Health Low Risk Human Research Ethics Panel
Members and tof web.pdf

Application Management
A turnaround time from submission of application to outcome will be no more than two weeks for quality assurance applications and within one week of the subsequent panel meeting for all other applications. To comply with timelines for quality assurance applications, these projects will be reviewed outside of panel meetings.

Meetings Dates and Assocciated Application Submission Deadlines:

Meeting: October 2nd/  Submission Deadline: By COB September 22nd
Meeting: November 5th/ Submission Deadline: By COB October 27th
Meeting: December 3rd/ Submission Deadline: By COB November 24th
Meeting: January 8th/ Submission Deadline: By COB December 29th
Meeting: February 5th/ Submission Deadline: By COB January 26th

What is a Quality Assurance Project? (Information and Application Form)
Quality Assurance Application Form.doc (279KB)
Quality Assurance Participant Information and Consent Form Template
Quality Assurance Participant Information and Consent Form.doc

What is Low and Negligible Risk Research?
ID low risk web.pdf

Low Risk Application Form
Low Risk Application from.doc
Low Risk Participant Information and Consent FormTemplate
Participant Information and Consent Form.doc
Module Three: Projects Involving Use of Human Tissue Samples (including blood samples)
Low Risk Module Three Form.doc
Module Three Guidelines        
mod three Gl web.pdf

Research Protocol Guidelines
Res Protocol GL web.pdf

Privacy Legislation Adherence Guidelines
Priv Leg Ad GL web.pdf

Project Reporting:
Biannual/Final Report:
Biannual. Final Report.doc
Adverse Event Report:Adverse Event Report Form.doc
Protocol Violation Report: Protocol Violation Report.doc
Amendment to Protocol Request: Amendment Request.doc