R&D in NHS risks ‘slipping back to pre-pandemic ways’

Clinical academics warn that NHS post-pandemic backlog is eating into their research time

The head of the UK’s national health funder has said the NHS risks slipping back into “pre-pandemic ways” following the research successes during Covid-19, as experts called for more ringfenced time for clinical academics.

Giving evidence during a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee session on clinical academics in the NHS on 29 November, Lucy Chappell, chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), said the Covid-19 pandemic had “normalised taking part in research throughout the NHS”.