A coalition of the UK's leading primary care academics has outlined urgent actions needed to protect the country's world-leading position in general practice research, following concerns raised by the Medical Research Council report about the collapsing clinical academic workforce.
The timing is particularly critical given the government's Spending Review commitments to "bring back the family doctor" by training thousands more GPs and delivering millions more appointments. The recommendations, published today in the British Journal of General Practice, come as the government commits £29 billion to transform NHS care "from hospital to community" - a shift the authors warn cannot succeed without the research workforce to guide it.
Lord Darzi's review, which informed this strategy, identified the shift from hospital to community care as essential for creating "an NHS fit for the future."
The paper, co-authored by academics from the Universities across the UK including Birmingham and Oxford, reveals that academic GPs, who provide the evidence base for effective community healthcare, now represent just 0.05% of the GP workforce, compared to 3% of hospital doctors in academic roles.
The research crisis comes as demand for community-based evidence has never been higher. With over a million GP consultations occurring each working day, the need for evidence-based community care is urgent. Yet without this research, patients may receive treatments that work in hospitals but haven't been tested in community settings.
The paper proposes five key recommendations to address the crisis:
- Create structured, academic career pathways with secure funding to attract and retain talent
- Reinforce university infrastructure for academic general practice
- Build a stronger research culture within general practice
- Provide practical support and mentorship for clinical academics
- Champion the contribution of general practice research
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences website.