www.nationalvolunteerregister.org

The National Volunteer Register (NVR) works is a web-based system that works on the idea of CRO’s and other research units sharing small but relevant parts of their internal databases to ensure over-volunteering is avoided. There are currently in excess of 115,000 volunteers registered on the NVR and access is granted to all research units who register with the website administrator.

The identifiers used in the NVR are the volunteer’s full name, date of birth and an associated form of valid photographic ID (eg. Passport).

To search for the eligibility of a potential volunteer, users must access the website given above and enter the following details (to match the volunteer’s valid photographic ID):

• First Name
• Middle Name (optional)
• Surname
• Date of Birth
• Access Code (freely available on request)

Once these details have been added for a volunteer, the system will respond with either a positive response (the volunteer is eligible for the trial/not registered with investigating unit) or a negative response (the volunteer is currently involved in a trial). As mentioned above, the details given above are linked to a photographic ID so it removes the risk of any two volunteers having the same ID reference, which is possible with other systems.