Editor—As a specialist registrar who successfully applied for research funding, I would add the shorter training and general shortage of doctors in the NHS to Bell's list of factors detrimentally affecting research.1
The time limited training as a specialist registrar meant that I had only a limited window to write up and submit applications. Yet overstretched departments were often reluctant to grant study time to work up those applications. From their perspective there was little to show for the time granted—that is, no audits and no papers. Little central support was given at the deanery, occupied with the task of shoring up clinical training against competing demands.
These remain systemic problems affecting a little publicised bottleneck into research: at the application and pre-entry point. Judging by how well the NHS is handling its current staffing problems, I seriously doubt these problems can be overcome in the near future. I suspect clinical research will remain moribund for a while yet.
Competing interests: MWKL has a research fellowship from the British Journal of Anaesthesia and Royal College of Anaesthetists.
References
- 1.Bell J. Resuscitating clinical research in the United Kingdom. BMJ 2003;327: 1041-3. (1 November.) [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]