Unrealistic fears about the risks posed by clinical research must be curbed for its true benefits to be harnessed, a conference has heard.
The BMA conference of medical academic representatives heard how the valuable contributions of medical academics must be recognised, including in new plans for the commissioning of NHS services.
Delegates were told that clinical research networks were being weighed down by a costly and unrealistic fear of legal action over trials.
NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) Clinical Research Network chief executive Jonathan Sheffield (pictured) said medical research carried a minuscule risk of harm, equating to far less than 0.5 per cent, yet some clinical networks were spending 8 per cent of their budget on governance.
‘The fear of litigation is not a realistic fear,’ he said.
The NIHR is reviewing its governance arrangements this summer as part of the government’s plans to streamline the approvals process for the regulation of health research.
Dr Sheffield said the NIHR was aiming to double the number of participants recruited to its trials from 62,500 to 125,000 by the end of March 2014.
‘The message has to come from the top down that research is an important part of the NHS,’ he said.
The conference also welcomed the publication this year of an Academy of Medical Sciences report titled A New Pathway for the Regulation and Governance of Health Research, which calls for a reduction in bureaucracy and an increase in the speed at which trials are approved.
BMA medical academic staff committee co-chair Michael Rees said: ‘The MASC has had a policy for some time about removing obstacles to research and streamlining regulation of research. We have heard about the need to make sure we are not spending a lot of our research money just on research governance.’
In his speech to the conference, Professor Rees spoke of the valuable contributions that medical academics make to the UK via the NHS, universities and industry.
His concerns about the lack of any reference to medical research in the Health and Social Care Bill were echoed by the conference.
Delegates called on the government to ensure clinical academics were represented at appropriate levels within commissioning consortia, and to make sure academics were consulted at an early stage in the planning and commissioning of services.
The conference also expressed concern about the government’s ‘any willing provider’ policy and the negative effect it could have on medical education and research.
Source: BMA
