RESURRECTION OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

I apologise for the imagery used during this Holy Week but I felt it was apt.

For a while, I have meant to write something about this article and others on the Wakefield affair which were published in a dedicated BMJ edition earlier this year. 

In the UK, large amounts of tax dollars are (rightly) invested into medical R&D and the amounts have, until recently, been increasing every year. The problem is that an increasing large portion of this dosh goes to support draconian governance processes that would have done ABSOLUTELY nothing to stop the MMR farrago occurring. As the total amount of money will undoubtedly drop over the next few lean years, the obscenely large fractions  being used to hire people whose main aim in life seems to be to construct barriers to research , must fall even faster. With junior doctors spurning research, the future of medical R&D in the UK looks bleak to me. If the government really wants to achieve more with less, an urgent review of how medical R&D is conducted in the UK is required. This must include the role of research in the training of all doctors.  An expensive course in research methodology is no substitute for the real thing. 

Since the NHS reforms are now in 'pause' mode and according to the PM and deputy PM everything is up for grabs, would it not be great if someone could bring the state of British medical research and required  solutions to the table.