Medical academic workforce is under threat without urgent action on pay and pensions, say peers

Clinical research is “on a precipice” unless the government takes urgent action, peers have warned.

The Lords science and technology committee said that the UK faces a severe shortage of doctors who work both in the NHS and at universities. This threatens both medical research and teaching. They pointed out in a letter to the health secretary Stephen Barclay that the number of consultant clinical academics is set to decline in the coming years as there are substantially fewer younger clinical academics to replace those who will retire in the next 10 years.

The committee’s inquiry concluded that problems with pay and pension inequality must be tackled to ensure that clinical …