27 October 2004
MEDICAL RESEARCH FUNDING STRATEGY NEEDS IMPROVED DIRECTION AND FOCUS, FINDS AUDITOR GENERAL
A more coordinated and strategic approach is needed if the benefits of the State’s $40 million support for health and medical research in WA are to be maximised, says a report from Auditor General Des Pearson tabled in Parliament today.
Currently, funding is dispersed across some 16 agencies, with no overall strategic direction or coordinating framework, and with limited mechanisms for determining research costs and outcomes, the report finds.
Whilst some individual agencies had taken a strategic approach to funding, in general, research was driven by ideas generated by researchers themselves.
Indicative of the problem was that at the time of Mr Pearson’s examination neither the actual number of publicly-funded research projects underway was known, nor was it possible to conclusively determine the amount that teaching hospitals spend on research annually.
The situation meant that opportunities to develop research capacity and to ensure that research funding was effectively directed toward health priorities may have been missed, says Mr Pearson.
A more coordinated approach would entail determining what outcomes publicly-funded health and medical research in WA should strive to attain, the most effective way off achieving these across the range of funding agencies, and then monitor funding outcomes.
Mr Pearson’s review also examined research in teaching hospitals, management of research funding, and relationships with research organisations.
Key findings included:
- Teaching hospitals are important contributors to health and medical research, but it is not evident that they are effectively managing the costs and benefits of research.
- Intellectual property rights should be better protected by promoting greater awareness among researchers and more effectively identifying and managing potential rights.
- Collaborative research arrangements generally lack adequate agreements to underpin respective rights and obligations.
- Approval and monitoring of research projects needs to make the extent and reasons for funding clearer and to better assure that moneys are spent appropriately.
Commenting today Mr Pearson said: “The health and medical research carried out in this State makes an important contribution to scientific knowledge at an international level and to improved health outcomes for the citizens of Western Australia.
It is important that the benefits available from this research are maximised, and that the arrangements and systems put in place are managed efficiently and effectively and to the ultimate benefit of the wider community.
“I am confident that this report will assist in achieving that goal, evidenced by the fact that throughout the course of this examination, and subsequent to it, the Health Department and a number of hospitals and health services have responded to issues raised, indicating they would initiate remedial action.”
Ends/.
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