Health & Medical Research Public Opinion Poll 2010

Research Australia’s 2010 Health and Medical Research Public Opinion Poll was conducted by Auspoll. Four discussion groups of eight people were held in metropolitan and regional New South Wales and Victoria, and a 15-minute online survey of 1000 Australians drawn from a market and social research panel, representative by age, gender and location, was fielded from 19 to 21 July (error margin ±3.1% at the 95% confidence interval). Improving hospitals and the healthcare system was the highest-priority issue, rated extremely or very important by 90%. Seventy-four per cent saw research to improve health as part of the solution to rising healthcare costs. Told that 2% of the $80 billion annual health spend went to health and medical research, 77% considered this too low, and 79% supported the Federal Government increasing health and medical research funding by $200 million. Fifty-six per cent reported that they or an immediate family member had a serious medical condition, and 43% that they or a family member had been unable to work for an extended period because of one. The survey also examined perceived benefits of clinical trial participation, health priorities for an ageing workforce, views that Australian inventions are being commercialised overseas, and initiatives that might encourage donations, such as government matching.