Extended clinical workforce academics

Extended clinical workforce academics

Academic primary care originally grew out of academic general practice. However, primary care has evolved substantially over the years, with an ever-growing role for nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and many other allied health professions. It is therefore essential that academic primary care addresses issues relevant to a diverse health service workforce.

We are seeing increasing numbers of colleagues from the extended clinical workforce wanting to pursue a career in academia. However, to date, funding opportunities remain relatively limited, and embarking on a clinical academic career for these individuals can be daunting.

How can SAPC help?

Back in 2013, SAPC introduced its PHoCuS group to recognise the critical role that colleagues who came from disciplines other than medicine had within academic primary care. In more recent years, we have recognised that clinicians from the extended primary care workforce can face particular challenges, and SAPC has therefore been working to ensure it can provide support for these colleagues.

We have revised our fee structure to be more inclusive and better reflect the diversity of our membership. We are engaging with partners from other clinical disciplines, including professional bodies and academic organisations in both nursing and pharmacy. At the 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, we hosted a well-attended workshop exploring how we can grow research capacity within academic primary care building a community that better represents the primary care workforce. We also host special interest groups with a relevant focus, including in dentistry and pharmacy.

Our early career group can provide peer support for those setting out on an academic career, and our members can also benefit from a wealth of experience from senior academics by joining our mentoring scheme.

Get in touch

Whether you are someone from the broader primary care workforce who is interested in pursuing an academic career but doesn’t know where to start, or an individual who is already involved in research but wants to build new collaborations and partnerships, then please get in touch with one of these groups.

And if you represent a professional body or academic group who would like to work together with SAPC to promote better evidence-based primary care, then please contact us.