If the research activities will have a bearing on patient care and the applicant does not have any contractual status with the NHS, then they will be required to gain a HRC.

For applicants requiring all other types of access, the LoA is designed for researchers conducting work which shall have no direct bearing on patient’s care. A NHS-NHS LoA is issued for applicants who already hold a contract with the NHS but at another Trust but wish to access NuTH for any research purposes (including clinical academics who hold Honorary clinical contracts with other Trusts).

For further information, please email nuth.researchpassports@nhs.net. For Newcastle University staff wishing to access NuTH for research related activities, please contact Newcastle University HR in the first instance to assist with the application process.

The following guidance applies to applicants applying for a new or modifying an existing (e.g. Addition of NuTH, extending dates or adding research studies) research passport:

• Applicants from Newcastle University must follow their intranet guidance or contact their Recruitment Team at recruitment@ncl.ac.uk.
• Applicants from other UK HEIs (Higher Education Institutes) or other NHS Trusts should apply using the NJRO research passport mailbox nuth.researchpassports@nhs.net.

This section only applies to applicants from HEIs (other than Newcastle University) or NHS employees from other NHS Trusts:

• For HEI applicants requesting a new research passport with NuTH:
  
  
  • Research passport application form.
  • Research role assessment form (RRAF).
  • Applicants signed and dated CV.
  • Pre-engagement checks:
    • Occupation health (OH) ‘fit-slip’ (or letter of clearance) may be required as defined by ‘the’ algorithm. It must be signed & dated by their HEI’s OH department.
    • Disclosure and barring service clearance certificate may be required (standard or enhanced) as defined by ‘the’ algorithm.
    • Proof of applicants identity (guide).
      
      
• For HEI applicants requesting the addition of NuTH Trust to their existing research passport:
  
  
  • Applicant’s existing research passport application form including section 8 (signed and approved by their HEI’s HR team) and extension appendices (completed by applicant, unless already listed in section 2).
  • Research role assessment form (RRAF).
  • Applicants signed and dated CV.
    
    
• For NHS Trust employees (or HEI clinical academics with an honorary clinical contract (HC) with an NHS organisation) requesting a letter of access (LoA) or honorary research contract (HRC) with NuTH:
  
  
  • NHS-to-NHS proforma completed by applicant & their NHS Trust’s HR team.
  • Research role assessment form (RRAF).
  • Applicants signed and dated CV.

• All research passports have a maximum lifespan of 3 calendar years.
• If the applicant is on a fixed term contract then the new or extended research passport end-date must be less than or equal to the applicant’s contract end date.
• There is no limit as to how many research passport date extensions can be applied for as long as the final extension is less than the research passports 3 year lifespan.
• For some administrative roles within the research platforms, it is acceptable to list access to all studies running within a specific area rather than listing the individual R&D study numbers in the RRAF. This is not acceptable for any Honorary Research Contract (HRC) applications; all the studies worked on will need to be listed.
• If a study is defined in the RRAF, then it must be open/in follow-up at the NuTH site for the research passport application to progress.