NHS research could face
pharmafile | August 11, 2006 | News story | Research and Development |
The British Medical Association is questioning the government over a possible 300 million pound drop in funding available for medical research.
Its concern follows government plans to create a new, single fund of at least one billion pounds for health research, an area which is currently funded jointly by the Medical Research Council and the NHS R&D programme.
According to the BMA, the combined value of the MRC and NHS research budgets in 2007-08 is expected to be 1.3 billion pounds, and the BMA is now seeking urgent clarification that this new, ring-fenced budget of one billion pounds for medical research will not slash the predicted 2007/8 budget by 300 million pounds.
Prof Michael Rees, chairman of the BMA's medical academic staff committee, said:" We are seeking urgent clarification about this apparent drop in funding. Health research is vital to patient care and the development of new treatments, as well as providing economic benefits. In no way should this be diminished – especially not by 300 million pounds".
The BMA is concerned over several points, mainly that cash-strapped NHS trusts would be tempted to raid research budgets; junior doctors in specialties would drop out of academic careers because they do not attract major research funding; and that small-scale, but valuable, NHS research would lose out because of increased emphasis on funding larger projects.
Sir David Cooksey, chairman of Diamond Light Source, a major new scientific campus due to open next year in Oxfordshire, is leading the government's Review of UK Health Research (known as the Cooksey Review), launched in March.
He is advocating a single research fund of at least one billion pounds, jointly held by the Secretaries of State for Health and Trade and Industry, combining the resources of the MRC and the NHS Research Fund.
Sir David is now considering submissions, and will report back to the government in the autumn, in time for the 2006 Pre-Budget Report.
The Royal Society (RS) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) welcomed the idea of a single health research budget but stressed that it must be established with the appropriate leadership, governance, resources and culture in order to maximise the application of health research to benefit patients in the UK and internationally.
Martin Rees, RS president, said: "The UK has an outstanding record in basic biomedical science. A single budget must sustain this, but also provide improved opportunities to link it with clinical research, and to provide patients with the best possible healthcare."
Sir Keith Peters, president of the AMS, commented: The UK's recent achievements in basic biomedical science have not yet been matched by developments in clinical research. Therefore, we recognise the advantages of linking two organisations to administer the budget and in doing so, harnessing the resources represented by the NHS and the world-class status of the MRC.
The two organisations are calling for the establishment of two councils the MRC and new Health Innovation Council. They said: "This, under a unified board, would bring several advantages, notably avoiding undue disruption of current operating procedures – balancing the relationship between NHS R&D and the MRC with the relationships between other charitable and commercial research funders – as well as providing the potential for further evolution."
The ABPI's response to the Cooksey Review proposes the creation of a Health Research Board (HRB) with an overview of the total budget for the government's expenditure on health-related life sciences R &D, with funding in the range of 1.25-1.5 billion pounds.
This HRB should be an "arm's length" agency, comprising key senior representatives from public, private and charitable sectors and be measured on – and accountable for – its performance in "strengthening the UK's competitiveness across the whole spectrum of health research."
The APBI also proposes the creation of a Translational Medicine Strategy Board to forge a more connected link between basic and clinical science. It further states that the bulk of basic biomedical research financed by the MRC should stay at a level of about 500 million pounds.
In addition, it is calling for the formation of a specific Health Outcomes and Behaviour Research Initiative, to assess the impact of new therapies and procedures.
Nigel Brooksby, ABPI president, said: "With R&D investment outside the US increasingly going to high-growth Asian and Eastern European countries, the government must act to build on the UK's existing strengths in peer-reviewed, public-funded basic research."
