If you missed the release of the McKeon review on 5 April 2013 you’re not alone. The Commonwealth government released the Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research just before the weekend – a time usually reserved for reports the government would rather bury – and it barely got a mention in the mainstream media.
The government commissioned the review panel, headed by Simon McKeon, in 2011 to investigate the state of health and medical research in Australia. The panel released a consultation paper October and delivered the final report to government in March.
The review sets out a ten-year strategy to better integrate health and medical research into the public health system. To improve the health system and contain its rising cost, the report states that “research must be routinely performed as a part of health-care delivery and there must be greater linkage...
