Does our NHS make research more difficult than it already is?

Created - 09.04.2014

It has been just over two years into my NHS Consultant post and I have managed to ‘find my feet’ and develop a bit of ‘Consultantitis’.

Although my clinical work and teaching has increased over the last couple of years, I find that my research activity, (which was reasonably consistent as a trainee and a fellow) appears to have taken a bit of a nose dive with lesser and lesser time dedicated to it.

During my training as a fellow (at the IR unit in Glasgow), I found it a constant tussle to divide my time between training myself to the required clinical standards and involving myself in research. It was relatively easy to slot into the research “team” where a group could pool their knowledge, skills and experience to setup and run clinical research trials. It was during my fellowship that I took the time to learn about research methodology and statistics.

Research methodology and techniques have taken time to integrate into the radiology curriculum and have been slow on the uptake. This is gradually changing with introduction of dedicated research training posts and increasing emphasis on research during training.

Currently, I find my Supporting professional activities (SPA) sessions have been divided between service development, teaching, clinical meetings and educational supervision. Often, a clinical emergency of one sort or another props up, leaving very little time for writing or reviewing papers or setting up new research projects.

In the last few months, I have made a conscious effort to earmark a dedicated time -slot for research related work. I have increased contributing to national registries and have also signed up for multi centre trials. This has gradually helped establish links with the R&D and Ethics departments. 

Funding is the next hurdle when it comes to research and small bursaries and project grants (BSIR) have been useful in the past and I think this would be a useful place to start. Industry funded research/registries are another option which is worth looking into.

Changing attitudes towards research is perhaps the most important and difficult hurdle. Trainees in Interventional Radiology must be involved in ongoing projects, encouraged to write up cases and case reports and develop skills at presenting at National and International meetings. Attending a research methodology and/or a statistics course is also of great value.

I am finding that setting up an effective research team is necessary but difficult, particularly with time and financial constraints, but this is necessary to pool skills, knowledge and ideas to effectively deliver high quality research. Establishing research networks between neighboring hospitals/trusts and the university is also a useful means of utilizing existing infrastructure and skills.

Last but not the least, and certainly in my case, I find that research boils down to time management and setting priorities. No time for research, is not really an excuse !

Ananthakrishnan Ganapathy Consultant Interventional Radiologist Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester