One in four medical students considers academia as a career

Difficulties in recruiting and retaining medical academics also threaten patient care, they say.

The Academies of Medical Royal Colleges and Medical Sciences make a number of recommendations in their report.

The British Medical Association is expected to say on Tuesday how a spate of university chemistry department closures could compound the problem.

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Medical academics are the people who set up medical courses, organise and assess students and run the teaching of our future doctors.

They also lead research and develop new treatments.

A survey showed a 23% fall in junior academic staff in the last three years.

If these problems are not urgently addressed, who will be left to train the doctors of tomorrow? Dr Peter Dangerfield, deputy chair of the BMA's medical academic staff committee

When the British Medical Association asked 473 doctors about their current and future job plans earlier this year, just one in four had ever considered pursuing a career in academic medicine.

The current report blames a lack of flexibility and limited funding for the poor uptake of academic training posts.

It can be difficult for doctors pursuing academic careers to fulfil their training requirements at the same time as doing research, for example.

Often they have to take longer to train and can expect a lower income, says the report.

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Professor Charles Pusey, chair of the Forum on Academic Medicine and Academic Registrar at the Royal College of Physicians, said: "The UK has an enviable reputation for medical education, clinical research and delivery of patient care.

"This can only be sustained and improved if the key role of clinical academics is recognised and appropriately rewarded."

Dr Peter Dangerfield of the BMA said: "Years of under-funding have left medical schools haemorrhaging staff."

He said doctors were less and less likely to chose a career in academic medicine at a time of massively expanding student numbers.

"If these problems are not urgently addressed, who will be left to train the doctors of tomorrow?"

Dr Duncan Bassett, a senior lecturer in endocrinology at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said: "The extended training period, the prospect of a lower income, lack of security and the competing demands of research, teaching and clinical practice have resulted in it being viewed as a less attractive career than clinical practice alone.

"It is essential that all of these issues are addressed."

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "The Conservative Party will work with the medical schools and Royal Colleges to address the issues which are deterring consultants from taking up academic posts.