6 years ago
Medical research to improve healthcare in Queensland
Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie
The Coalition Government will provide more than $6 million to Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners to help close the gaps between medical research and the delivery of healthcare services in Queensland and work with partnership entities to apply and scale research that benefits all Australians.
The Minister for Rural Health, Senator Bridget McKenzie, today said the $6.1 million investment over three years from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) would provide better integration between research and healthcare services, ensuring Australian research better informs how services are provided throughout Australia.
“The funding is part of the Government’s investment to support Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres (AHRTC) and Centres for Innovation and Regional Health (CIRH) to conduct rapid transformation research that delivers real solutions to health service challenges,” Minister McKenzie said.
“Most importantly, the results will provide direct benefits to patients and give them access to world class health care, no matter where in Australia they live.
“The investment builds on initial MRFF funding of more than $222,000 already provided this financial year to Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners.”
Minister McKenzie said the partnership was using this investment to collaborate nationally on activities such as the Health Systems Improvement and Sustainability Framework and Health Technology Assessment, building capacity in data-driven healthcare improvement and building capacity in an Indigenous Research Network.
“AHRTCs are a relatively new style of alliance in Australia, but have international parallels. They build on a growing trend to formalise collaborations between health services, academia and patients to identify and solve healthcare problems”.
Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners is one of seven ATHRCs across the country that have been internationally peer revised and accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council as leading alliances that excel in health and medical research that can be translated into patient care with a focus on health professional education.
“Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners will work with health professionals—such as the doctors and nurses caring for patients—to identify areas of research need or problems and collaborate with expert researchers to find solutions tailored to patients.”
“The independent Australian Medical Research Advisory Board identified in its MRFF Strategies and Priorities the importance of alliances like Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners in translating health and medical research into clinical practice. The Board described AHRTCs as ‘primed and ready vehicles’ for strategic MRFF investment.
“The Coalition Government is committed to improving the health services for all Australians and will continue to invest in better treatment, care and medical research.”