The RCP has today welcomed a report from the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) — Transforming health through innovation: Integrating the NHS and academia.
The report examines how to bridge the gap between the NHS and academia to accelerate the translation of research into patient benefit and better population health. Its recommendations include:
- Providing dedicated research time for research-active NHS staff
- Ensuring undergraduate curricula equip healthcare staff with the skills to engage with research
- Incorporating flexibility into postgraduate training pathways.
Commenting on the report, RCP president, Professor Andrew Goddard said:
"Medical research is one of the key foundations of the NHS. Not only does it lead to better outcomes for patients, but also a happier more stable NHS workforce.
"As the UK navigates a new path post-Brexit, our world-leading clinical research sector needs support. This report rightly identifies the capacity of NHS staff to engage in research as a key challenge. Dedicated research time for clinicians will help, and we must also face head-on the bigger challenge of improving recruitment and retention across the NHS.
"The recommendations tie in well with the RCP’s ongoing Research for All work to encourage more research to take place in NHS trusts, particularly by enabling clinicians more time to do research.
"We are also pleased that the report references the important work the RCP is doing to make it much simpler for clinicians across the country to become involved in research, through the development of our clinician researcher credential and flexible portfolio training scheme.
"We look forward to working with the AMS, NHS organisations and many others to enable more clinicians to be research-active."
The full report can be viewed here.
