A SENIOR doctor has described as "unacceptable" the fact that the North-East receives only a fraction of research funding given to just one London hospital.
Dr Stephen Singleton, director of public health for the North-East, is calling for the region to aim to at least double its share of national health and health care-related research investment over the next five years.
His comments were made as it was revealed that the region's five universities have jointly submitted a detailed £5m application to set up a North-East Centre of Public Health Research Excellence.
While the application is still being considered by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, the area is understood to be in pole position.
The North-East health boss spoke out after discovering that the entire region, which includes Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside and Sunderland universities, receives far less than the NHS research funding assigned to the Hammersmith Hospital, in London.
"This is unacceptable," said Dr Singleton, who yesterday launched radical proposals to transform the North-East from the sickest to the healthiest region in England within a generation.
Dr Singleton argues that more research and development in the region is crucial to health improvement in order to discover which policies work.
"At present, the North-East attracts a far smaller share of NHS and other health-related research and development funding than would be predicted by, for example, our share of the national population," the public health chief said.
Dr Singleton said there was "no good reason" why the North-East should not be able to sustain a world-class health and health care research base.
"But to achieve this would require the regional NHS and all five universities to collaborate far more closely around a shared agenda than they have done in the post," he said.
Dr Singleton's proposals, Better Health, Fairer Health: Consultation on a Strategy for 21st Century Health and Well-being in North-East England, are now out for public consultation.
It includes his call for the region's universities and the NHS to develop a collaborative strategy to make the North-East a world-class health care research centre.
View the draft strategy at www.gone.gov.uk/gone/public health/improvinghealth/strategy
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article