Building quality in health--the need for clinical researchers.

Integration of research and education into health care delivery leads to improved outcomes and facilitates rapid translation of results into policy and practice. Australia is at great risk of losing the important contribution of clinical research conducted in our public hospital system. This risk is increasing as research and educational training are targeted for expenditure reduction in the current business models of health service delivery, which focus only on short-term outcomes. The Centres of Clinical Research Excellence Scheme--initiated by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)--is an excellent step towards redressing this problem, but it cannot succeed in isolation. We must improve and optimise care through promotion of attractive sustainable career pathways to provide strong clinical and translational research capabilities in hospital settings that address current health priorities and new disciplines. Targeted investment in talented people is the greatest long-term contribution that governments can make to guarantee quality in national systems of health.