A future in primary care research: a view from the middle

Abstract

The future of primary care research (PCR) has recently undergone critical analyses from major thought leaders in the field, resulting in a mixed view of its prospects.1–3 In response, as members of the Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership programme’s 2016–2018 cohort (http://www.oxfordleadershipprogramme.co.uk/), we provide our mid-career analysis of the future of the field, as well as making some recommendations for supporting a positive outlook.4 We are committed to the tenet that primary care is the foundation of efficient and high-quality health systems around the world. High-quality primary care is underpinned by high-quality research. We need research to evaluate policy, practice, service design, the role of health technology in care delivery, and innovative solutions to ever-pressing workforce issues. A strong pipeline of primary care researchers is required to deliver this agenda. In this piece, we briefly reflect on where we feel the key blockage in the pipeline is, the ‘mid-career primary care researcher’, and make recommendations on how we might ‘unblock’ it. Primary care encompasses a distinct and complex model of health care, with core values of first-contact, person-centred, comprehensive, and ongoing care that underpin how we design, deliver, and monitor care for most of our population here in the UK and in many other countries.4 In order to respond to the increasingly complex needs of patients (for example, ageing and multimorbidity), primary care researchers are challenged to pursue complex, innovative, and wide-reaching research agendas.5–8 The complexity of such concepts reflects the fact that a variety of researchers are typically engaged in these issues: clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, statisticians, health economists, and those who simply term themselves ‘health services researchers’. Indeed, we see the diversity of researchers routinely involved in PCR as another core strength, with multidisciplinary research teams working …