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Clinical researchers in the UK: reversing the decline to improve population health and promote economic growth (PDF)
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Clinical research drives innovation to make the NHS more sustainable and deliver better outcomes for all by:
- enabling an NHS fit for the future: research active hospitals consistently deliver better patient outcomes
- kickstarting economic growth: every £1 invested in medical research delivers a further 25p return for every year thereafter
However, the UK is currently not growing its clinical research capability in parallel to an expanding NHS and the increasing clinical need.
Data collected over the last decade shows a decline in clinical research staff, both in absolute numbers and, more strikingly, in proportion to the expanding NHS workforce.
The Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research convened a broad stakeholder ‘Task and Finish’ group. This comprised of chief scientific advisors from the UK four nations, key representatives from the NHS, government and charity research funders, industry and academic institutions, to define the required actions to reverse the current decline.