CUMBRIA and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority is launching a recruitment drive for people willing to serve their communities by becoming members of one of four Local Research Ethics Committees.

Everyone who is carrying out research involving NHS patients needs to have their initial proposals approved by an ethics committee. The committees considers aspects of the research such as the patients' safety, dignity, and confidentiality, and also ensures that patients are only included in projects when they have given appropriate consent.

One of the main roles of a lay member is to ensure that the information given to people taking part in NHS research is simple to understand. Their role is therefore to safeguard the patients' interests and to ensure that inappropriate research does not take place.

The committees will be sited in: Blackpool, Wyre & Fylde; North Cumbria; Preston, Chorley & South Ribble, and East Lancashire. Residents of Morecambe Bay are welcome to apply for membership of any of the committees. For an information pack and application form phone 0191- 301-1355 or e-mail: janet.kelly@durhamclspct.nhs.uk