Research assessment exercise. Single funding structure should be created for teaching hospitals.
Year: 1998
Type: letter
Abstract: Editor—Williams has summarised the dangers and deficiencies of the research assessment exercise.1 The inevitable and desired consequence of the exercise was to concentrate resources in a limited number of institutions, and in this the process has been a success. Resources have been increasingly directed towards a limited and predictable number of institutions, generally to the detriment of the provincial medical schools, which have been left dangerously exposed both in matters of staff recruitment and in funding.
Medical schools are supposed to be responsible for training doctors and the provision of clinical services, as well as undertaking research. The clear message from the research assessment exercise, however, is that the first two functions are of minor importance, because the funding is not affected by either dedication to patient care or the quality and effort put into teaching. Furthermore, many of the provincial schools have survived and prospered in the past by the virement of NHS funding into academic posts. This process is now under threat as academic staff are drawn back from clinical work and as posts funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England are predominantly directed towards research and away from clinical work. The interaction between NHS and academic staff in teaching hospitals should be seamless and complementary. The reality is that the relationship is being torn apart, with little prospect for the development of posts that will not improve the results of the research assessment exercise, even if the benefits to the profile and quality of staff in some of the “Cinderella” disciplines may be substantial.
Is it not time to re-examine the existing structure and to recognise that the provincial medical schools can never compete in the research assessment exercise without grossly distorting their function? There is a strong case to have a single funding structure for teaching hospitals and to create separate universities of health sciences, in which a balance could be achieved between teaching, clinical service, and research. All staff would be academic and service oriented, with the capacity to recognise particular talents within the structure. Universities of health sciences would include all disciplines related to patient care.
A change in the structure and management of teaching hospitals was recently viewed favourably in a report by a select committee of the House of Lords.2 Williams described the research assessment exercise as a “dysfunctional juggernaut,” but if it is to continue then new structures must be initiated to safeguard the integrity and quality of medical training in the United Kingdom.
Source: PubMed
Author: E M Symonds
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2134514975