ShareA new report suggests the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) should run a pilot project allowing more protected research time for NHS staff.
Estimate of the economic costs and
literature review of the benefits of dedicated research time for Hospital
Consultants in the NHS was commissioned by the Academy of Medical Sciences within its wider
project, ‘Enhancing the NHS-academia interface.’
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The authors identified that it is impossible for most Consultants (except Consultant Clinical Academics) to find time for carrying out research on top of their direct clinical care duties. Therefore, giving one in five of Consultants one day a week for research means backfilling of an equivalent amount of time for direct clinical care.
In a Teaching Hospital Trust (415 Consultants on average) the
backfilling would cost €3.5 million (£3.01 million), and in a District General Hospital Trust (182
Consultants on average) €1.53 million (£1.32 million) per year. Thus, the
proposed pilot would cost €25.23 million (£21.7 million): €17.56 million (£15.1
million) for five Teaching
Hospital Trusts and €7.67 million (£6.6 million) for five District General Hospital
Trusts. If the backfilling is done
not by Consultants on rotation, but by locum Consultants, the overall cost
would rise to €29.01 million (£25 million) per year.
It is noted
that this cost could be offset by benefits. There were no evidence in the study
that this can be quantified in any meaningful way. The literature review,
however, showed that providing staff with dedicated research time was related
to successful research programmes as well as increasing level of job
satisfaction and employee retention among others.
For the NHS, the potential benefits of allowing the staff time for
research are important in the context of high
vacancy rates among medical
staff and the cost of using agency staff.
In conclusion, the authors of the report recommend that a pilot study examine
the actual cost of providing dedicated research
time to clinicians. They also underscore that a number of the benefit metrics should be assessed, including job
satisfaction; improvement in
clinical outcomes; the success of research programmes, etc.
In his comment to Laboratory News Professor Sir Robert Lechler,
President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, stressed the importance of research
for patients, the NHS, Universities and economy in general. “Research is the
tonic the NHS needs right now,” he said. "There is increasing evidence
that shows that patients treated in research active hospitals get better
quality of care, even if they are not taking part in a research project.”
Source: Academy of Medical Sciences
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