The Federal Government has released a new report into the state of health and medical research in the country.

The McKeon Review - Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research – Better Health through Research was launched last week by Federal Minister for Health Tanya Plibersek.

“The review focused on maximising Australia’s capacity to produce world class health and medical research across the research spectrum, from discovery through to translation,” Ms Plibersek said.

“It found that Australia has one of the world’s best performing health systems. But we need new strategies and processes to drive improvements in healthcare delivery through a renewed and fully integrated health and medical research sector.

“The overarching vision of the report is embedding health and medical research into all aspects of the health system. This is because health services that conduct research deliver better health outcomes for patients.

The report’s key recommendation is the formation of a 10 year strategy, complete with 21 recommendations across a number of themes to achieve a new vision for health and medical research in Australia.

“Some of the recommendations directly impact on the running of the public hospital system which is managed by the states and territories and I intend to take the report to the Standing Council on Health and to seek feedback from my state and territory counterparts.

“There are many people and organisations from researchers, health professionals and consumers who have already provided input into the review process and will be interested in its conclusions. The government will engage with relevant parties in formulating its response,” said Ms Plibersek.