NMHS Mental Health Research Ethics and Governance Office

Notice:

Please be advised that as part of the WA Health system ethics reform (external site), the North Metropolitan Area Mental Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee (NMAMHS HREC) is no longer operating. New ethics applications can be submitted to either the WA Health Central HREC (external site) (for non-NMA projects) or South Metropolitan Health Services HREC (external site) (for NMA projects) for review.

All active projects previously approved by the NMAMHS HREC have been transferred to the ethical oversight of the WA Health Central HREC. Monitoring submissions (amendments, safety reports, annual progress reports and site and project final reports) for previously approved projects should be submitted to the WA Health Central HREC for review via the RGS system.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the Central Office for Research Ethics (CORE) at hrec@health.wa.gov.au or phone (08) 9222 4214.

 

Authorisation Process for Research Projects

All human research projects conducted within the jurisdiction of North Metropolitan Health Service - Mental Health Services and Dental Health Services must undergo:

  • Ethical and scientific review for Ethics approval
  • Governance review for Site Authorisation

Any requests for governance review must be lodged via the Research Governance Service (RGS) website (external site).

The RGS is a centralised IT system that enables the completion, submission, administration, tracking and reporting of ethics and site applications for research projects conducted in WA Health. The RGS must be used for all ethics and site applications involving WA Health sites for approval.

The WA Health Research Governance Framework (external site) provides further information on WA Health governance review processes.

Please read the Users Guides (external site) on the RGS website for more information regarding the RGS and the submission process for new projects and amendments to approved projects and reports.

 

Ethics Review

All human research conducted in MHSDHS must undergo ethical and scientific review, approval and monitoring by either a:

  • WA Health system Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) registered with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), or
  • NHMRC certified Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) participating in the National Mutual Acceptance (NMA)

All registered and/or certified Australian HRECs must operate in accordance with the NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2023 (external site).

For a list of suitable WA Health system HRECs that can review your project, please refer to the contacts (external site) page in RGS.

For ethics application enquiries please contact the Central Office for Research Ethics (CORE) at HREC@health.wa.gov.au or by phone at (08) 9222 4214.

 

Governance Review

All human research conducted within WA Health must undergo a governance review, which is the mechanism for professional, legal and financial accountability and transparency and is consistent with the NHMRC's Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2007 (external site) (‘the Code’).

The governance review is a separate process that should be conducted in parallel to the ethics approval process. It is not necessary to await the ethics outcome before preparing and submitting a governance application to the relevant Research Governance Office (RGO). However, ethics approval must be obtained and forms part of the final governance review, prior to a request for Site Authorisation from the relevant chief executive or delegate of the WA Health site/s you wish to conduct the research at.

The WA Health Research Governance Framework (external site) provides further information on WA Health governance review processes.

For governance application enquiries relating to NMHS MHSDHS sites please contact the Sir Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group Research Governance Office at SCGH.RGO@health.wa.gov.au or phone (08) 6457 3254.

 

Ethics and Governance Amendments

All the requests for ethics and site amendments to approved projects must be submitted to the relevant research ethics and governance office/s via the Monitoring section in RGS.

 

Quality Improvement (QI) and Case Studies / Case Reports

If your project is a QI study or a Case Study / Case Report, it should be submitted for approval to the MHPHDS Mental Health Safety, Quality and Performance (SQP) Unit. More information is available at the Safety, Quality and Performance Unit’s Quality Improvement page (staff intranet).

 

Do you need more help?

If you want to know more about conducting research in mental health, please see the documents below:

 

Compliments, complaints and suggestions

If you have any compliments, complaints or suggestions regarding a research project undertaken within the NMHS MHSDHS jurisdiction, please contact us.

Last Updated: 24/07/2025