THE NATIONAL HEALTH COMMITTEE

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THE NATIONAL HEALTH COMMITTEE Evidence-Based
Symposium, Royal Melbourne Hospital, 26 November
2007
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NATIONAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ACT
1992 (the Act)

• Under the Act, the NHMRC has four main
  roles,which are to
• Raise the standard of individual and public
  health and
• Foster
• 1) consistent State / Territory health
  standards
• 2) medical and public health research /
  training and
• 3) consideration of ethical issues relating to
  health.

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ROLE OF NHMRC COUNCIL AND PRINCIPAL COMMITTEES

• Current Principal Committees
• NHC
• Research
• Ethics
• Genetics
• Licensing

• The Council of the NHMRC and the NHMRC Principal
  Committees are established under the Act, to
  provide an independent source of expert advice on
  a range of issues associated with the functions
  of the NHMRC.
• Under the new structure, the Council and
  Principal Committees provide advice to the CEO
  (Professor Warwick Anderson) who is responsible
  directly to the Minister for Health and Aging.

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ROLE OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH COMMITTEE (NHC)

• Develop and maintain standards for the
  development of health advice, i.e. population
  health and clinical practice
• Develop and provide to the Council and CEO, and
  subsequently to governments and the community,
  evidence-based guidelines or other forms of
  advice on a range of matters, especially in
  population health and
• Identify emerging health issues and gaps in
  knowledge.

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CURRENT MEMBERSHIP OF THE NHC

• Members
• Prof. Colin Masters (Chair)
• Dr. Kathryn Antioch
• Dr. Katrine Baghurst
• Dr. John Carnie
• Prof. Jon Currie
• Dr. Chris French
• Rev. Dr. Gerald Gleeson
• Ms. Rebecca James
• Dr. Anne Johnson
• Dr. Mark Wenitong
• Prof. Harvey Whiteford
• Dr. Helen Zorbas

• NHMRC
• Prof. Warwick Anderson
• Dr. Greg Ash
• Dr. Stuart Barrow
• Ms. Cathy Clutton
• Ms. Vesna Cvjeticanin
• Dr. Jan Davis

• At the November 2007 meeting
• Guests
• Prof. Louise Bauer (Uni. of Sydney)
• Prof. Boyd Swinburne (Deakin Uni.)
• Mr Peter Woodley (DoHA)
• Observer
• Ms. Kylie Jonasson (DoHA)

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CEOS VISION FOR THE NHMRC

• To become a more influential body on the matter
  of Australias
• health through research and the translation of
  evidence into health policy, advice to the wider
  community, and into clinical practice.To achieve
  this vision, the Council, Principal Committees
  and staff need to contribute at a high level.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NHC

• The NHC will focus on substantial and challenging
  agendas, with development of issues between
  meetings using working parties and in-house
  NHMRC Secretariat expertise.
• An essential feature of the new role of the NHC
  is that the agenda for the NHC will be derived
  from the NHMRC Strategic and Business Plans and
  will be focussed on key identified health
  priority areas.

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NHC KEY PRIORITIES FOR THE 2006-2009 TRIENNIUM

• Priority issues which the NHC has identified to
  focus on for this triennium are
• Mental Health
• Obesity
• Indigenous Health and
• Complex Systems Analysis, leading to
  Effective Health Care
• Health Literacy

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MENTAL HEALTH

• Priority areas Schizophrenia Anxiety
  Depression Substance abuse
• Promote research into etiology and risk factors.
• Identify evidence-based best practice.
• Systems analysis of health practice
  implementation (DoHA).
• Gaps in knowledge on implementation strategies
  (NICS).
• Role of Health Literacy.
• Value of screening for early interventions and
  prevention in high risk groups (adolescents,
  Aborigines).
• Engage with AIHW on trends in key indicators.

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OBESITY

• Search for novel whole-of-Government
  approaches.
• Review utility of current NHMRC guidelines and
  reasons for failure of implementation (NICS).
• Develop complex systems analysis for
  evidence-based priority setting.
• Screening and population-based intervention
  programs for prevention in high risk groups
  (children, adolescents, Aborigines).
• Determine the role of Health Literacy in the
  solution-based approach.
• Engage with AIHW on trends in key indicators.

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INDIGENOUS HEALTH

• Focus on areas of interest with Mental Health
  (substance abuse) Obesity Health Delivery with
  Complex Systems
• Work with Australian Institute of Health and
  Welfare (AIHW) on Key Indicators and quality of
  data.
• Develop Key Trend data (eg. perinatal death
  rates, suicide, life expectancy)
• Role of Health Literacy

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COMPLEX SYSTEMS ANALYSIS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE
HEALTH CARE AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES

• Determine the evidence-base for the value of the
  current Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) and
  Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
• Apply systems analysis approach to model changes
  in the MBS.
• Evaluate screening strategies for their
  cost-benefit in disease prevention.
• Develop strategies to improve the evidence-base
  for procedures funded on an interim basis through
  the MBS.

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OTHER AREAS OF INTEREST TO THE NHC

• Policy and Practice.
• Quality and Safety (Hospital workloads
  nosocomial infections).
• Chronic Disease Strategies.
• Overview of Current Guideline development (eg.
  Alcohol).
• Reports from Special Expert CommitteesTSEAC
  Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory
  CommitteeEAGAR Expert Advisory Group on
  Antimicrobial Resistance

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RELATIONSHIPS WITH MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS

• DoHA Department of Health and Aging
• AIHW Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
• NICS National Institute of Clinical Studies
• The Sax Institute
• Others