1997-1998
1.3: Health research and information
The 1997-1998 Portfolio Budget Statements, informs Senators and Members of Parliament of the proposed allocation of resources to portfolios outcomes and their objectives and targets including the agencies within the Health and Family Services portfolio.
Budget Measures
Objective
To contribute to the pool of health knowledge which may be used to develop better strategies to improve the well-being of Australians.Priority outcomes
- The advisory, information and research management capacity to support Commonwealth leadership in the introduction of evidence-based medicine.
- A high level of national health and medical research and training in research directed towards improving the health and well- being of the population.
- A high standard of ethics in national health and medical research.
- An improved capacity to base health policy, health practice and government funding decisions on sound scientific evidence.
Strategies
- Supporting the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in funding research in all fields of health and health services, in accordance with stated ethical and scientific standards, on the basis of peer review.
- Supporting institutional ethics committees in their supervision of the ethical aspects of research involving humans.
- Supporting the NHMRC in funding training of new researchers and career support for established researchers.
- Supporting the NHMRC to develop research agendas on behalf of program areas of the Department, other Commonwealth agencies and other bodies.
- Supporting the NHMRC to provide high quality evidence-based advice to Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretary at short notice.
- Supporting the NHMRC in the development and dissemination of evidence-based advice and guidelines on health policy, practice and ethical issues.
- Supporting the NHMRC in the development of thematic programs of health and medical research and the development of health and ethics advice.
- Supporting the NHMRC to develop and implement a comprehensive consultative and evidence-based process for setting priorities for targeted research and health and health ethics advice.
Performance assessment: indicators and targets
Effectiveness
| Indicator | Target | Information source and reporting frequency |
| Proportion of research support in areas which correspond with National Health Priority Areas (Priority Outcome 2; Strategies 1,3) | Funding of research in cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental health at similar levels to previous years
Funding of injury research increased above 1996-97 levels Funding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research above 1996-97 levels Collect baseline information on funding of research in diabetes | NHMRC Grants Management System
Annual |
| Extent to which policy and practice in the Australian health system draws on the outputs of national and international research and other relevant information (Priority Outcome 4; Strategies 5,6) | At least 50 per cent of evidence-based recommendations in NHMRC advisory reports have been implemented | Surveys of target audiences of advisory reports
Biennial |
| Per cent of NHMRC-funded scholars and training fellows successfully completing research training and subsequently pursuing careers in health research or other areas of the health sector
(Priority Outcome 2; Strategy 3) | 95 per cent | Surveys of former NHMRC-funded scholars and training fellows
Biennial |
Efficiency
| Indicator | Target | Information source and reporting frequency |
| The cost of administration of NHMRC research funding as a percentage of total NHMRC research program funds
(Priority Outcome 2; Strategies 1,3) | Costs less than for comparable research funding bodies in other countries | Reports of research funding agencies
Costing analysis of NHMRC grant funding processes Biennial |
| Percent of advisory projects completed within the agreed project costs and timeframes
(Priority Outcomes 1,4; Strategy 6) | 90 per cent | NHMRC project plans
Biennial |
Quality
| Indicator | Target | Information source and reporting frequency |
| NHMRC-funded medical research institutes have internationally competitive research output
(Priority Outcome 2; Strategy 1) | 90 per cent of NHMRC-funded institutes have citation rates that are at or above the international average citation rate in their fields | Bibliometric analysis
Every three years |
| NHMRC advisory reports based on systematic reviews of all relevant national and international evidence and rating of quality of evidence stated (Priority Outcomes 1,4; Strategies 5,6) | 100 per cent of NHMRC advisory projects commenced after 1 January 1997 adhere to standards of evidence presented in NHMRC Guidelines for the development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines | Analysis of NHMRC advisory reports
Annual |
Equity
| Indicator | Target | Information source and reporting frequency |
| Relevance of health research and advice to improving health outcomes for specified target groups (Priority Outcomes 2,3; Strategies 1,5) | All health advisory reports are relevant to specified target groups | Analysis of NHMRC advisory reports
Annual |
Performance assessment: evaluation
Health and Medical Research Workforce: In 1997-98 an external review will be undertaken of Australia's current health and medical research workforce to develop a strategy for ensuring the longer term viability of Australia's research capacity across the whole health and medical research spectrum. The review will include review of the NHMRC's current training and career award strategy. Recommendations from this review will be incorporated into the program of awards to be funded under this proposal.Variations to Program Outlays 1996-97 to 1997-98 (Excel 24 KB)
