Learned academies want government to hand-over health statistics 

The Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences are calling on COAG to cut through the regulatory state and federal clutter impeding access for research.

“Regulatory barriers that limit timely access to population and health data must be resolved to achieve better health outcomes for Australians, according to leading scientists and medical health researchers,” they warn.

They cite an NHMRC study which looked at de-identified Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) data to find an increased cancer risk for some individuals exposed to CT scans. It took three years for approval, in this case from the Commonwealth.

Adrian Barnett is on a similar case, warning of the waste of researchers’ time in pursuing approval for “negligible risk research that should not need formal oversight,” (CMM July3)