NHSScotland Assure exists to improve how risk is improved in the healthcare built environment across Scotland. Managing risk in the right way gives those involved in maintaining NHS buildings, facilities and equipment confidence and reassurance.

 
NHSScotland Assure Guidelines for Applicants

General Information

All appropriate sections of the application form must be completed. Additional Annexes may also be attached along with your proposal but must be clearly labelled with the section number or an appropriate title for example - Letters of Support, or Extra Details on Ethical Information. Failure to complete any section of the form, or to provide sufficient clear copies, may result in the application being delayed or not taken forward.

Guideline Notes

Find out more about the following:

Section 1 – Summary Details

Project Summary

Please provide the Project Title, Lead Applicant, Value of grant requested and Project Duration information.

Please indicate the area(s) your project will target from the list provided, as per the key themes outlined in the scope.

Section 2 – Layperson Summary

The applicant should provide a standalone Layperson Summary of no more than 750 words.  The summary should be written in language accessible to a non-expert audience.  At a minimum, it should outline the aims of the research, clearly articulate the benefits accrued from the research and how the research will impact built environment risks and NHSScotland Assure’s advice and/or guidance.  The use of jargon should be avoided, and any technical terms should be clearly explained. 

Section 3 – Project Details

This entire section should be a minimum of 1 page but no more than 5 pages long. The individual boxes highlight the detail required for each project and the guidance below outlines the expectations of what should, where appropriate, be covered.

Motivation for the Research

The proposed research activities should form a coherent package based on the research scientific focus and priority themes set out by NHSScotland Assure with specific and relevant deliverables within a set timeframe. Please also note any current or upcoming guidance from NHSScotland and NHSScotland Assure, which the research may affect.  Please be specific about any known gaps in the current evidence base or guidance and outline clearly how the research proposed will address these.

Targeted Outcomes and Timelines

Provide an outline of the planned programme of work which should highlight significant phases of the project with key milestone/timelines.  Please refer to the ‘Progress Reporting’ section about monitoring progress of projects.

This can be supplemented succinctly in a summary table or Gantt chart.  Projects which will not be completed by the end of the contract between Edinburgh Napier University or NHSScotland Assure will be managed to a conclusion by NHSScotland Assure.

Justification of Requirements

Describe the existing facilities including the resources for supervision, equipment, space, staffing, relevant departmental interests, and collaboration.

Outline a case for staff to justify expertise and workloads required for the research.

Attention is drawn to Section 4 where Justification of Resources will require the applicant to justify expenditure including research for selecting particular types of equipment.

Impact of Project

Proposals should demonstrate how the intended impact clearly aligns to the needs of NHSScotland Assure and provides an understanding of how outputs and evidence from the research commissioned will be disseminated and shared to inform key stakeholders and practice in the healthcare-built environment. This could include publications and other public engagement methods.

Further to the above, proposals should clearly outline whether the outcomes of the project translate into gains for NHSScotland and whether it is expected these will be applicable on local, national or international levels.  In addition, it should be outlined whether any gains resulting from the research are applicable universally or if these are dependent upon local circumstance.

Impact of Research on NHSScotland Assure Advice & Guidance

Specifically reference relevant guidance and advice documents that research is intended to impact on. More detail on guidance produced by NHSScotland Assure can be found within the Scoping document (see NHSScotland Assure Research Service Fund Scoping document).

Key References

No more than ten references should be given in the text and listed with the title, using Harvard or Vancouver format.

Section 4 – Costings

All costs which contribute to the proposal should be detailed, so long as they fall within the guidelines below.

University/Knowledge Base Partners

The fund will pay 80% fEC for HEI’s/Research Organisations using the TRAC methodology or similar.

Costs should be entered under one of the following cost headings:

Directly Allocated:These are the costs of an Organisation’s research resources that will be charged to the project on the basis of estimated use, rather than actual costs. They include:

  • Investigators: Proposals will need to show the costs of the Principal Investigator, Co-Investigators and any other staff whose time charged to the project will be based on estimates rather than actual costs.
  • Estates: These costs may include building and premises costs, basic services and utilities, and equipment maintenance not already included under other cost headings.
  • Other Directly Allocated: These costs must be applied by using one of the following four headings: 1. costs of pooled staff, 2. usage costs of research facilities, 3. central & distributed computing and 4. charge out rates for shared equipment.

Directly Incurred: These are costs that are specific to a project that can be charged as the cash value actually spent. The costs are supported by an audit record. They include:

  • Staff:payroll costs requested for staff, full or part-time, who will work directly on the project and whose time can be supported by a full audit trail during the life of the project.
  • Travel and Subsistence: funds for travel and subsistence for use by staff or patients who are directly engaged on the project where these are required by the nature of the work. Modest dissemination costs incurred during the life of the project may be included under this heading; however, funds for open access publication or conference attendance should not be included here.
  • Equipment: The cost of equipment dedicated to the project over £3000
  • Other costs: Costs of other items dedicated to the project, including consumables, survey fees, purchase/hire of vehicles, and items of equipment costing less than £3,000. Only in exceptional cases, when evidence is given that no computer support is available, and is essential to the project, will computers and associated hardware and software be provided. Library charges and the costs of recruiting project staff will not be met.

Indirect Costs: These include non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as Directly Allocated costs.

All costing shall be at current prices, inclusive of VAT and other taxes where applicable, with no allowance for inflation. Any allowance for inflation that has been included in the full economic costing of the proposal by the Research Organisation must be excluded.

Resources to be provided by any project partners, whether cash or in-kind contributions, shall be clearly identified in the proposal.

Business & Industry

The fund will procure the research and development services from business/industry and, whilst the fund could pay up to 100% of costs, supply chain companies should consider what the organisation could contribute to the project. Resources to be provided by any project partners, whether cash or in-kind contributions, shall be clearly identified in the proposal and will be considered when evaluating the application.

Costs that can be included in the application include: -

    • Staff costs
    • Materials
    • Subcontractors
    • Travel & Subsistence
    • Other costs

An overhead of 20% will be allowable on labour costs only.

Costs should be exclusive of VAT, as we would expect that VAT is recoverable from HMRC, however, if not VAT registered, please include VAT as a cost (please provide justification if VAT is included as a cost)

NHS

For NHS providers, the costing follows guidance from the Chief Scientist Office and only provides funds that are in excess to normal costs which fall into the following categories :-

    • Service support
    • Blood test, X-Rays etc.
    • In patient stays
    • Extra Nursing
    • Other (please specify)
    • Standard treatment costs
    • Excess Treatment costs

Other (Charities, Other Bodies)

The fund will procure the research and development services from charities and other bodies and, whilst the fund could pay up to 100% of costs, supply chain companies should consider what the organisation could contribute to the project. Resources to be provided by any project partners, whether cash or in-kind contributions, shall be clearly identified in the proposal and will be considered when evaluating the application.

Costs that can be included in the application include: -

    • Staff costs
    • Materials
    • Subcontractors
    • Travel & Subsistence
    • Other costs

An overhead of 20% will be allowable on labour costs only.

Costs should be exclusive of VAT, as we would expect that VAT is recoverable from HMRC, however, if not VAT registered, please include VAT as a cost (please provide justification if VAT is included as a cost).

Justification of Resources

The following costs associated with the research project must be justified :-

    • All Directly Incurred costs.
    • Any Directly Allocated costs that are specific to the project. Full justification for the level of staff effort and shared facilities requested shall be included in the project.
    • The amount of investigators’ effort, including writing up of the final report, and the associated estimated costs.
    • The estimated costs associated with technicians specific to the project whose time cannot be supported by timesheets.
    • Research facilities and shared laboratory equipment which cannot be substantiated through usage records.

You do not need to justify the following Directly Allocated costs not specific to the project:-

    • Estates costs.
    • General technical services provided to a department in such areas as health and safety, equipment maintenance, storerooms etc.
    • Shared laboratory equipment.

You do not need to justify the Indirect costs.

Section 5 – Applicant Details

The information relating to the Lead Applicant and Co-Applicants. In the case of consortia please provide details of all parties. If more space is required, please add additional boxes to the form or attach an additional Appendix when submitting your application.

Section 6 – Governance

Section 6a - Ethical Approval

The relevant box should be completed.

Ethical advice from the appropriate NHS Research Ethics Committee (REC) is required for any research proposal involving :-

    • Patients and users of the NHS. This includes all potential research participants recruited by virtue of the patient or user’s past or present treatment by, or use of, the NHS. It includes NHS patients treated under contracts with private sector institutions and individuals identified as potential research participants because of their status as relatives or carers of patients and users of the NHS, as defined above.
    • Access to data, organs or other bodily material of past and present NHS patients.
    • Foetal material and IVF involving NHS patients.
    • The recently deceased in NHS premises.
    • The use of, or potential access to, NHS premises or facilities.
    • NHS staff recruited as research participants by virtue of their professional role.

In such cases the written approval of the Research Ethics Committee must be submitted to NHSScotland Assure before a grant is paid.

Information on applying for ethical review can be found on the NRES website.

Applications should also include written Ethical approval from the applicant’s institution or associated organisation where appropriate.

Section 6b - Intellectual Property and Commercialisation

Unless stated otherwise, and subject to the conditions set out below, the ownership of intellectual property, and responsibility for its exploitation, rests with the grant holder and the grant holder shall grant to NHSScotland Assure a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free licence to use the intellectual property all of which shall be documented in a collaboration agreement between the parties.

NHSScotland Assure may, at its discretion, retain ownership of intellectual property. This right, if exercised, will be set out in an additional condition at the time of award. 

Section 7 - Peer Review

Provide details of five independent referees whom Edinburgh Napier University may approach for assessment/peer review of the research proposal. Applications will only be accepted if details of five suitable (see below) referees have been provided. Nominated referees shall be experts in the research field and/or be able to provide an expert view on the value and benefits to users of the research proposal.

Applicants shall not provide referees :-

    • From their own organisation
    • From current or proposed project partners
    • Where any possible conflict of interest may arise

Full contact details must be given for each referee.

Section 8 - Declaration and authorisation

This section should be completed by the Head of the researcher’s organisation and the finance lead from said organisation. For the case of consortia this should be completed by the lead organisation. It is expected that the lead organisation will have sought these declarations from all relevant partners.