Evidence shows that research-active healthcare settings are associated with better health outcomes for patients, and the ‘NHS long term workforce plan‘ calls for more “clinical academics [who] are crucial to training future generations of healthcare professionals, by leading on research”. The pharmacy profession is only just beginning to introduce research skills training for pharmacists, even though we know from the Department of Health and Social Care’s report ‘Saving and improving lives: the future of UK clinical research delivery’ that “clinical research is the single most important way in which we improve our healthcare”. Why is research yet to be recognised as a core function of all clinical pharmacists’ roles? As one of the four pillars of multi-professional clinical practice, research is considered to have equal status to the clinical, leadership and management, and education pillars by NHS England. But, for pharmacists at least, it sits firmly at the bottom of the pile.
