Short-term spark or long-term flame? Sustaining academic psychiatric departments

Over the past two decades, the number of academic psychiatrists in the UK has declined by more than a third, despite an expansion in medical schools and growth in most other medical academic specialties. Drawing on direct experience of establishing a new academic unit, we argue that the long-term sustainability of academic psychiatry departments is critical for service quality, innovation and talent development. This paper outlines the structural, cultural and strategic factors needed to create academic units that endure and flourish beyond individual careers, enabling better integration of research and clinical practice.