Research
Report calls for action to tackle falling numbers of clinical researchers
A new report is calling for urgent action to address falling numbers of clinical researchers.
Medically trained research staff play a central role in developing innovations that improve treatments, interventions, diagnosis and prevention strategies for patients. This includes a wide range of professionals, such as medical, dental, public health, nursing and midwives, who carry out research as part of their professional role.
Stark decline
Analysis in the report, commissioned by the Office for the Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research, reveals a fall in medically qualified research staff – also known as clinical academics. In 2022 there were six per cent fewer medically trained research staff than there were in 2012.
The decline is even starker as a proportion of the NHS workforce. As the number of consultants and GPs has increased since 2012, the number of clinical academic GPs or consultants has not.
Data demonstrates that this trend is set to worsen over the coming decade as the existing clinical research workforce is ageing and not being replaced at a rate that maintains the current position.
Professor Bryan Williams OBE, our chief scientific and medical officer, contributed to the report. He said: “As a clinical academic, I know the indispensable role they play in driving the UK's world leading health research and in the NHS. They create new scientific innovation and ensure that this lifesaving research makes the leap from the lab bench to patients. They also lead national and global clinical trials of lifesaving treatments.”
‘We must act now’
The report states that the reasons for the decline in medically qualified researchers are complex. It calls for an urgent, co-ordinated approach, and recommends a number of interventions that it says will have the greatest impact to build a sustainable clinical research workforce for the future. These include:
- Establishing a common national clinical research career framework to train clinical researchers capable of competing on an international stage.
- Ensuring the national training pathway is flexible and fast to provide multiple entry-exit routes to training and more flexible timescales.
- More visible leadership and mentorship delivered by established researchers to inspire the next generation of clinical researchers from an early age.
- Delivering equitable rates of pay and pay opportunities, establishing transparency for salary progression based on delivery of excellent research.
Professor Williams continued: “This is why this report is so important in promoting the training and retention of the brightest and the best in the UK, to reverse the alarming decline in their numbers. The report's importance cannot be overstated because we risk major disruption to the lifeblood of UK science and innovation at a critical time, as well as a loss of major talent for the NHS. We must act now to prioritise and improve retention and career progression for clinical academics, as well as ensuring that their research time is protected in an overstretched health service.
"As the leading independent funder of cardiovascular research in the UK, the British Heart Foundation is committed to working with Government, training authorities, the NHS and other funders to address this urgent need to support flexible, inclusive and excellent clinical research careers.