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The Academy promotes, supports, and facilitates the work of the UK Medical Royal Colleges and their Faculties for the benefi t of patients and health-care professionals. The following consensus statement has been drawn up by the Presidents of the Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges as a consequence of widespread concern about the future of clinical research in the UK. The timing of its issue is to complement the Royal College of Physicians of London report Innovating for health: patients, physicians, the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS. As the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, we bring together the medical specialties in the UK and take a leading role in improving standards of health care and in health research. Since the National Health Service (NHS) began 60 years ago, there have been extraordinary advances in medicine. Nearly a quarter of the world’s top 100 medicines have been developed in the UK, traditionally a leading centre for medicines development and clinical trials. Previous decades of investment and collaboration have been the foundations for this great leap forward. Looking to the future, we welcome Lord Darzi’s report High quality care for all: NHS next stage review, which confi rms a future focus on patients’ needs and recognises the essential role of the clinical professions in reshaping and delivering services to meet those needs. The report encourages the creation of new partnerships between the NHS, universities, and industry to pioneer new treatments, enabling basic scientists and clinician researchers to train and work together. Strengthening the links between basic, translational, and applied researchers are important priorities. It is also critical for leading experts to recruit and collaborate on clinical trials. It is important that the regulation around conducting clinical trials in the UK ensures that they are of the highest quality, and done in a timely and cost-eff ective manner. Collectively, these measures con tribute to enhanced access to modern medicines on the basis of clinical need. However, previous policy state ments have failed to bring about signifi cant change. There needs to be real action with clear mech anisms and timeframes for implementation. We urge the Government to work in partnership with the medical pro fession and the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that patients are able to access innovative, lifeenhancing medicines and other inter ventions. There is a need to encourage and support NHS clinicians, managers, and patients to become involved with clinical research. It is only by working collaboratively and retaining long-term investment that we will ensure the UK remains an attractive loca tion for future clinical trials with the consequent benefi ts to our patients. |
