3. Major challenges
Over the coming triennium NHMRC must retain a strong capacity for delivering independent expert advice to Australian governments and the Australian community on issues of health standards, ethics and research and to maintain and build on AustraliaÍs excellence in health and medical research. Council must also optimise its decision making processes and ensure continuity in its strategic planning so that long-term initiatives begun in this triennium will be continued in the next.
In particular the NHMRC will need to:
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work within the Australian health system to ensure that the structural reform underway delivers quality health outcomes;
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ensure that leading edge developments in research and clinical practice are monitored and their possible introduction to Australia is assessed carefully in light of ethical standards, scientific evidence and economic impact;
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strengthen the understanding of the cultural, social and behavioural basis of health and illness, and how this can be applied to health prevention;
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develop ongoing procedures to make transparent to all involved in NHMRC, and outside NHMRC, how the organisation operates, develops initiatives, makes decisions and ensures consistency and continuity of NHMRC work;
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encourage appropriate involvement and balanced participation of all segments of the Australian health care system in research;
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facilitate the full dissemination of the findings of Australian medical research;
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work towards the integration of all its activities; and
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evaluate rigorously its own performance and the performance of the Australian health research effort.
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