In 2022 and 2023, the hospital approved 161 new research projects and had 272 active research projects.

“With most clinical research being conducted in metropolitan areas, it’s significant that Grampians Health has had over 200 research projects running in regional Victoria,” Grampians Health Chief Medical Officer Professor Matthew Hadfield said.

“Clinical research is fundamental to enhancing healthcare at Grampians Health, where our focus is effective patient care and improved health outcomes for our community.

“Our researchers are continuing to bring a strong focus on research to regional Victoria, giving our regional communities access to lifesaving medical treatment in our own backyard.”

In 2022-23, Grampians Health recruited 800 patients to clinical trials, making it easier for regional patients to access clinical research closer to home.

Clinicians had 112 research papers published, representing 27 different departments across the health service, with oncology, allied health, infectious diseases, pharmacy, and surgery the most active publishers.

“It’s been proven that an organisation with strong research values has better outcomes for both staff and patients. We’re proud to support our staff to continue finding and undertaking research to help our current patients and to add to medical knowledge for the future,” Professor Hadfield said.

“While we know regional Victoria is a great place to live, we acknowledge that there is disparity between regional and rural Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne. We’re looking forward to bringing more research opportunities to regional Victoria to start lowering that disparity, give more representation in clinical research to regional patients and communities, and more opportunities for regional and rural patients to have access to world class medical treatments closer to home.”

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