NSW government to commit additional $70m to bolster health and medical research

The NSW government has accepted the majority of the recommendations made by the NSW Health and Medical Research Strategic Review, which was chaired by Mr Peter Wills, AC, and was released yesterday.

The government will pump an additional $70 million into implementing many of the recommendations on top of $200 million the Government already spends annually on health and medical research.

The report found many weaknesses in the existing health and medical research framework in the state and offered recommendations across 11 themes for improving research in NSW.

Among the shortcomings, the report found that NSW attracts less than its population share of National Health and Medical Research Council funding.

It also found that there was a perception that the NSW government had a lower emphasis on health and medical research than other states.

Where infrastructure funding was made available for research, there was “strong dissatisfaction” with the amount and its inconsistent application.

It also emphasised the lack of support for early and mid-career researchers and the poor remuneration for health and medical researchers compared to other related careers.

The report recommended that the state government place a renewed emphasis on the translation of research into policy and practice and to actively aid in building stronger research capacity by boosting infrastructure spending, strengthening the research workforce and encouraging greater collaboration amongst research organisations.

In response to the report, the Minister for Health and Medical Research, Jillian Skinner, welcomed the recommendations and offered an additional $70 million over the next four years to fund research and development initiatives.

This money will be divided between many of the recommendations made by the report, including an extra $5 million to be put into the Medical Research Support Program (MRSP) on top of the $5 million added in 2011-2012, to bring the total funding to $37.3m per year.

Another $5m per year is to be put into the Medical Devices Seeding Fund to support research and investment in new medical devices.

The Research Capacity Building Program will receive $1m annually to attract researchers to the state, and $800,000 will be doled out to research hubs to support administrative costs.

The government will also establish an Office for Health and Medical Research to aid in the implementation of the recommendations and to provide $800,000 in support for clinical research networks in the state.

“The translation of high quality research into practical developments and outcomes requires positive leadership and commitment on the part of government,” said Ms Skinner in the government response.

“Our provision of an additional $70 million over the next four years, to fund key research and development initiatives, in times of budgetary and economic restraint is clear evidence of our commitment in that regard.

“This is on top of the $200 million the Government already spends annually on health and medical research.

“The recommendations of this review provide a blueprint and a practical guide to addressing the key issues of fostering translation and innovation from research and building world class research capacity in this state,” she said.

The full report can be found here, and the government’s response here.