In October 2022, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences released a report putting forward a case for urgently developing and implementing plans to integrate research and innovation in the health system to transform health outcomes for the community, enhance health system management, and optimise the economic benefits of Australian innovation.
Research and innovation as core functions in transforming the health system: A vision for the future of health in Australia, sets out a three-year plan to achieve this goal. The report includes 14 recommendations and five priorities to:
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Address fragmentation by creating a new alliance for transforming healthcare through research.
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Build a skilled and enabled health research workforce, including world-class clinician researchers.
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Maximise the value of current investments in research and innovation.
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Foster stronger consumer and community involvement
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Build integrated teams and cross-sector collaboration
Priority recommendations
- Development of an Australian alliance for transforming healthcare through research to enable better coordination and collaboration between health, government, academia, industry and consumers in health research
- Development of a national strategy and implementation plan for building a clinician-researcher workforce
- Stronger strategic harmonisation between funders, especially NHMRC and MRFF
- Consistent framework for consumer and community involvement in health and medical research
- Meaningful and continued funding for Research Translation Centres
Contributors and working group
The Academy convened an expert committee to meet throhgout 2021 and 2022 to examine evidence, participate in consultations and finalise recommendations. More than 260 individuals were consulted for this project, including consumers, government, healthcare professionals, researchers, fudners, healthcare administrators, peak body representatives, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reserachers, and individuals from rural and remote settings.
You can read the full list of working group members on our project page.
Download the full report and the Executive Summary below.