Benefits of Research
It's good for you and your career development
Many healthcare professionals say they find the experience of being involved in research studies positive and rewarding. Any member of the practice team can get involved. The experience of staff involved in running research studies is very encouraging, with many reporting an increase in job satisfaction and overall quality in performance.
Doctors supporting research in their practice are able to acquire Continuous Professional Development (CPD) hours for their annual appraisals, contributing to revalidation requirements. Research can stimulate future doctors and energise training GPs.
It's good for your practice
It can be empowering for GPs and patients alike to be helping to answer important research questions that are relevant to UK general practice.
Practices have found that developing a research interest not only produces a new income stream (Research Site Initiative (RSI) scheme), but leads to a novel aspect of staff development and portfolio careers. Hosting research offers more variety to clinical roles and further opportunities to build networks.
It's good for your patients
Evidence shows that research-active trusts delivering clinical research trials and studies have better patient outcomes.
It gives patients the opportunity to access novel treatments and/or facilities, tests and enhanced monitoring.
Patients value the opportunity to participate in research studies; it empowers them to understand more about their conditions and allows them to contribute to improving future healthcare.
It's valued by the CQC
Care Quality Commission (CQC) have already identified research activity as a quality marker in secondary care, and some primary care CQC reports highlight the value of research to patients as a demonstrable commitment to quality improvement. The CQC now has a remit to assess how trusts are supporting and using clinical research to improve patient care.
The NHS constitution states that "research is a core NHS business and every patient should be offered the opportunity to engage with research activities".
It's part of the long term NHS plan
A key focus is 'research and innovation to drive future outcomes and improvement'. This acknowledges that patients benefit enormously from research and innovation, with breakthroughs enabling prevention of ill-health, earlier diagnosis, more effective treatments, better outcomes and faster recovery. The NHS Long Term Plan includes the commitment to increase the number of people registering to participate in health research to one million by 2023/24.