Shortage of medical academics

Key medical disciplines including pathology and psychiatry are under threat as academic staff numbers continue to drop, figures released this week reveal.

A survey of academic staff levels in medical and dental schools shows that many dentists and doctors are steering clear of academia. Psychiatry, anaesthesia and surgery have suffered a drop in staff of more than a 25 per cent since 2000. Academic pathology numbers have fallen by more than half.

Dentistry is facing a similar problem.

The Council of Heads of Medical Schools and the Council of Deans of Dental Schools, which commissioned the survey, warned that academic recruitment was not keeping pace with growth elsewhere in the National Health Service.

It said that government plans for a new dental school looked untenable and called for urgent investment.

The survey also highlighted a 17 per cent drop in junior clinical academic posts.

Peter Dangerfield, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association's academic staff committee, said: "How can we hope to train rising numbers of medical students if lecturer posts are cut by more than a half?"

He blamed short-term contracts, long working hours and "a university funding system that threatens the stability of staff careers".