The COVID-19 crisis has meant health and social care systems have had to rapidly adapt and put new processes and procedures in place for patients and all health care related workers.

There is a unique opportunity to learn from these adaptations and to improve the quality of approaches throughout and beyond this pandemic. Full details are expected to be available by 29 June 2020 and will be updated on the RCQPS COVID-19 call notice on the HRB and RCQPS websites.

Expedited timelines apply throughout the process. It is expected that successful projects will begin early October 2020, and that project staff will mostly be redeployed rather than specifically recruited. Host Institutions are required to treat awards arising from the call with utmost urgency.

Research proposals are therefore invited under the following COVID-19 specific QPS themes:

  • Virtual learning during the COVID-19 response; how can virtual modes of delivery of training and education best serve the needs of the Healthcare Workforce in the future?
  • The use of quality improvement methodologies to test or re-engineer clinical processes during the COVID-19 Pandemic response.
  • Sustaining improved ways of working and methods of healthcare delivery developed the during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  • Residents, families, and staff experiences in residential long-term care settings of new ways of delivering care during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The duration of awards is between 3 and 12 months and research findings from awards need to have a strong potential to be implemented in the Irish health and social care system during and after the end of the grant. Funding available is up to €140,000 per project including overheads contribution. Queries can be sent to rcqps@rcpi.ie

* The Research Collaborative in Quality and Patient Safety (RCQPS) is a collaborative initiative between the Health Research Board, the Health Service Executive, National Quality Improvement Team and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland established in 2013 to advance nationally relevant research in the area of quality and patient safety (QPS). The model used for this scheme involves collaboration between knowledge users and academic researchers. Those interested in partaking in QPS research are encouraged to register onto the RCQPS Database. The database will be circulated to encourage and enhance collaboration on research proposals.

**The call is subject to final approval of the HRB Board.