ABSTRACT
Developing a research and development culture in primary care should encourage the wider adoption of evidence-based practice by all practitioners. This in turn should lead to increasingly appropriate patient management and more cost-effective prescribing practices. The intention is that future research and funding will be more in line with NHS priorities and needs and the health of communities, and will encourage networks of research and development activity. The ‘NHS Research and Development strategy aims to create a knowledge-based health service in which clinical, managerial and policy decisions are based on sound information about research findings and service developments’. A multidisciplinary approach to primary care research and development is important. Primary care is generally acknowledged to be a vastly underresearched area. The true benefits of research and development will only be realised when there is a demonstrable impact on patient care from practitioners implementing lessons from research as a routine aspect of their work.
