Administration of the State’s budding medical research sector must rely on more precise management practices to help ensure maximum overall benefits, according to an Office of Auditor-General’s (OAG) report just tabled in State Parliament.
The report, Under the Microscope: Support for Health and Medical Research, says a range of old-style customs and outdated practices mean the OAG’s investigators are unable to determine the exact cost of the sector to taxpayers.
The report’s compilers, who focused on the financial year 2002-03, estimated that the sector relied on outlays of about $40 million annually, with $23 million expended by WA’s four metropolitan teaching hospitals.
The next major funding agency was the Department of Health ($7 million), followed by Lotterywest ($4 million) and Healthway ($2.4 million).
“State funding and support for health and medical research is provided through at least 16 agencies,” the report says.
“Teaching hospitals do not have a specific budget allocation for research, but allocated funds and resources to research activities at their discretion.”
To derive the $23 million estimate the investigators relied on a preliminary costing estimate made by a metropolitan hospital and a similar exercise by Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.
Both calculations indicated teaching hospitals spent between 1 per cent and 2 per cent of operating outlays on medical research.
The review also uncovered other outdated practices that justified their call for a more coordinated management approach.
One unidentified research agency had entered into an undocumented partnerships and joint ventures.
“In another case, three staff employed, and paid, by the government have effectively worked full-time for an independent research organisation for more than five years,” the report says.
As well as taxpayers meeting salaries of some non-government employees, and providing rental support, the OAG investigators uncovered a case of a research agency using premises for activities not initially agreed to.
“This underscores the importance of having documents arrangements in place, not only to establish tenancy entitlements, but ... to effectively manage the tenancies,” the report says.
