Volume 1
Medical research and the NHS reforms / House of Lords, Select Committee on Science and Technology.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Science and Technology Committee.
- Date:
- 1995
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Medical research and the NHS reforms / House of Lords, Select Committee on Science and Technology. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Competition within the patient care market was also seen as inimical to R&D. Health care purchasers and providers would be unwilling to invest in R&D because they did not own the results. There was said to be evidence of unwillingness to share data and results of R&D, and to co-ordinate information systems, which led to a greater risk of wasteful duplication of work. Purchasers were tending to support local service providers rather than send patients to major research centres. The independent evaluation of treatments and services was at risk.” (Culyer report paragraphs 2.6-12) 1.27 On15 October 1993 these concerns were crystallised in a widely-publicised letter written by the President of the Royal Society, Sir Michael Atiyah, to the Prime Minister: see Box 5. BOX 5: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY TO THE PRIME MINISTER “I am writing to express the serious concern felt by my scientific colleagues about prospective developments in the Health Service and their potential impact on medical research and education. I hope that these concerns, which are very widely shared, will be addressed before it is too late. fostered by the close co-operation between Regional Health Authorities and their regional medical schools. If the Regional Health Authorities are reorganised or dissolved, then it is essential that the education and research which they currently support should be financed through other channels. A further devolution of funds to individual purchasers, without adequate provision for the continued support of medical teaching and research, would lead to a serious crisis and a great loss of performance and reputation for British science.” The Culyer report 1.28 On23 November 1993, the Department of Health announced the setting up of an NHS Research Task Force, with the following terms of reference: “Taking into account the NHS reforms and the functions and manpower review [which produced the plans for unitary Health Authorities and “single-centre working” now embodied in the Health Authorities Act 1995], and building on existing work, the Task Force is asked to: (i) take stock of the current situation with regard to the conduct and support of R&D in the NHS, to establish the nature and extent of any problems, and in that light to consider whether it is appropriate to make recommendations; and if it is; (ii) review the ways in which the NHS currently funds its own R&D and supports that funded by others; (iii) review the ways in which the NHS mechanisms for funding and supporting R&D promote and/or hinder the aims of the NHS R&D Strategy and other Government policies relating to R&D in the NHS; (iv) advise on alternative funding and support mechanisms for R&D, including any necessary transitional measures, recognising that any new system will have to operate within available resources.”](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32219337_0001_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
