Welcoming the Culyer report

Abstract

The task force responsible for the report consulted widely. Although the NHS research and development strategy receives praise for its systematic approach to priorities and for its emphasis on getting research into practice, many policies in the NHS adversely affect the environment for research. These include pressures to keep costs down in the internal market, efficiency indices, shorter length of stay, and the reduction in junior doctors' hours. Medical schools are concerned that the infrastructural support for research in their associated hospitals is endangered by short term considerations against which they are only partially protected by additional funding - for example, the service increment for teaching and research.