Current pressure on the UK imaging workforce deters imaging research in the NHS and requires urgent attention

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Imaging Workforce Group, NIHR Imaging Steering Group, and NIHR Clinical Research Network Imaging Champions

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

6 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Medical imaging is a multidisciplinary specialty, combining clinical expertise from medical physics, radiography, and radiology, and plays a key role in patient care. Research is vital to ensure the care delivered to patients is evidence-based, and is a core component of clinical governance; however, there are pressures on the imaging workforce, which are significantly impeding imaging research. This commentary presents a research gap analysis pertaining to the multidisciplinary imaging workforce on behalf of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Imaging Workforce Group. Data were summarised from membership surveys of the Royal College of Radiologists, Society and College of Radiographers, and Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine; national reports; and feedback from NIHR Clinical Research Network Imaging Champions meeting in 2020/2021. Common barriers to delivering research were found across the multidisciplinary workforce. The key issues were lack of staff, lack of time, and lack of funding to backfill clinical services. Given the ongoing workforce shortages and increasing clinical demands on radiologists, diagnostic radiographers, and medical physicists, these issues must be tackled with a high priority to ensure the future of clinical research within the NHS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)913-919
Number of pages7
JournalClinical Radiology
Volume77
Issue number12
Early online date24 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is a key UK organisation working with patients, health and care professionals, researchers, and industry to accelerate the development, evaluation, and clinical translation of novel imaging science, ensuring that innovations in imaging bring benefits to patients. 3 Between 2017 and 2018, over 250 studies involving imaging were supported by NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Clinical Research Facilities. Each year, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supports more than 2,000 studies in which imaging plays a crucial role. Since 2016, the NIHR Academy has awarded 54 fellowships involving imaging research from a range of disciplines and fellowship programmes. In the same period, multiple NIHR programmes funded over 90 primary imaging research studies or studies where imaging was a key research component (£17.5m through Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation; £9.3m through i4i; £41.8m through Health Technology Assessment; and £2m through Research for Patient Benefit Programmes).

Funding Information:
Workforce Group (in alphabetical order): Prof. Vicky Goh (Chair), Dr Anna Barnes, Dr Angela Darekar, Prof. Margaret Hall-Craggs, Ms Jo Mearhart, Mr Robert Milner, Dr Anu Obaro, Dr Tracy O'Regan, Dr William Ramsden, Ms Julie Solomon, Prof. Stuart Taylor, Dr Tom Turmezei Imaging Steering Group (in alphabetical order): Prof. Stuart Taylor (Chair), Dr Angela Darekar, Prof. Vicky Goh, Dr Kate Holmes, Prof. Stefan Neubauer, Prof. Andrea Rockall, Dr Penny Wilson NIHR Clinical Research Network Imaging Champions (in alphabetical order): Dorothee Auer (East Midlands), Gabriella Baio (Eastern), Vijay Chidambaram (North West Coast), Julie Cox (North East and North Cumbria), Angela Darekar (Wessex), Sabina Dizdarevic (Kent, Surrey, Sussex), Daniel Fascia (Yorkshire and Humber), Fergus Gleeson (Thames Valley and South Midlands), Vicky Goh (South London), Lesley Honeyfield (North West London), Charles Peebles (Wessex), Jonathan Rodrigues (West of England), Patrick Rogers (South West Peninsula), Louise Shalaby (Greater Manchester), Manoj Srivastava (West Midlands) and Stuart Taylor (North Thames).

Funding

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is a key UK organisation working with patients, health and care professionals, researchers, and industry to accelerate the development, evaluation, and clinical translation of novel imaging science, ensuring that innovations in imaging bring benefits to patients. 3 Between 2017 and 2018, over 250 studies involving imaging were supported by NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Clinical Research Facilities. Each year, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supports more than 2,000 studies in which imaging plays a crucial role. Since 2016, the NIHR Academy has awarded 54 fellowships involving imaging research from a range of disciplines and fellowship programmes. In the same period, multiple NIHR programmes funded over 90 primary imaging research studies or studies where imaging was a key research component (£17.5m through Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation; £9.3m through i4i; £41.8m through Health Technology Assessment; and £2m through Research for Patient Benefit Programmes). Workforce Group (in alphabetical order): Prof. Vicky Goh (Chair), Dr Anna Barnes, Dr Angela Darekar, Prof. Margaret Hall-Craggs, Ms Jo Mearhart, Mr Robert Milner, Dr Anu Obaro, Dr Tracy O'Regan, Dr William Ramsden, Ms Julie Solomon, Prof. Stuart Taylor, Dr Tom Turmezei Imaging Steering Group (in alphabetical order): Prof. Stuart Taylor (Chair), Dr Angela Darekar, Prof. Vicky Goh, Dr Kate Holmes, Prof. Stefan Neubauer, Prof. Andrea Rockall, Dr Penny Wilson NIHR Clinical Research Network Imaging Champions (in alphabetical order): Dorothee Auer (East Midlands), Gabriella Baio (Eastern), Vijay Chidambaram (North West Coast), Julie Cox (North East and North Cumbria), Angela Darekar (Wessex), Sabina Dizdarevic (Kent, Surrey, Sussex), Daniel Fascia (Yorkshire and Humber), Fergus Gleeson (Thames Valley and South Midlands), Vicky Goh (South London), Lesley Honeyfield (North West London), Charles Peebles (Wessex), Jonathan Rodrigues (West of England), Patrick Rogers (South West Peninsula), Louise Shalaby (Greater Manchester), Manoj Srivastava (West Midlands) and Stuart Taylor (North Thames).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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