He was commenting on the recent release of the health select committee report on the inquiry into improving New Zealand's environment to support innovation through clinical trials.
The report recommends district health boards are funded to undertake clinical research as a front-line activity and that the Government allocate funding to buy the technology required.
It also recommended that boards be required to introduce key performance indicators (KPIs) to show how well they were performing in relation to timeliness, the cost and efficiency of carrying out clinical trials.
Mr Rousseau said while he had not caught up with the detail of the report, he had long considered research was one of the three pillars of a sustainable health system. The other two, were service delivery, and training and education, he said.
Southern would be incredibly well placed to do this work because of its longstanding close relationship with the University of Otago.
He was delighted work had been done to demonstrate what the benefits could be to patients, the health system and New Zealand as a whole from clinical trials.
"Like any investment, the benefits only occur after the initial investment, and that initial investment will always pose a challenge".
The report referred to the need for access to equipment such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy and PET scanning.
Dean of the University of Otago's Dunedin school of medicine Dr John Adams said it was good to see recommendations about initiatives to embed more research in district health boards and make it a more central part of health delivery.
A disappointing aspect of the report was that it seemed to ignore the "very important partnership between the universities and the health service".
The report identified the basic science and translational research universities contributed, but they were also involved in clinical research and that collaboration between university and health service staff could be very important in achieving the objectives outlined in the report, he said.
In the section relating to district health boards, the committee recommended the Government work with key clinical leaders to develop a well-co-ordinated national strategy for clinical trials and research at boards.
Such a strategy should be endorsed by the Ministry of Health and involve formal co-ordination with private clinical research service providers.
The possible formation of a research innovation and commercialisation hub to serve both islands could provide co-ordination for boards' clinical trials and other research.
Prof Grant Gillett, of the University of Otago bioethics centre, said it was hard to disagree with most of the recommendations.
The report proposed the ethical review processes be streamlined but did not spell out how.
He suggested a meeting between those involved in ethics education, the ministry and possibly some of the other key organisations, such as the Health Research Council, to agree on what changes should be implemented to the ethics committee structure.
Proper training of ethics committee members was an essential part of any future arrangement.
He did not favour suggestions that lay membership of ethics committees could be reduced. Lay representation was important and should be accessible to ordinary people.
Important issues such as variability of decision-making and the lack of transparency had been identified.
If the review was handled the right way, it could be really important and initiate a new phase which would ensure New Zealand's ethics network continued to be a world leader.
However, it should ensure that during any improvement process nothing important was lost, Prof Gillett said.
The committee recommended that the membership of ethics committees be reduced from the existing 12 (six with technical backgrounds and six lay people) to eight, allowing the chairman to co-opt for extra advice.
• The Government's formal response to the committee's report will be released later this year.
Key recommendations
• Simplify and streamline ethical review processes.
• Promote collaboration between Government departments to co-ordinate the system.
• Develop national health research action plan to foster innovation and commercialisation.
• Develop framework for clinical trial research throughout district health boards.
