The Public hospital service research activities cluster describes information relating to the research infrastructure, capability and activity within a public hospital service.

Research refers to the activities undertaken in a public health service where the primary objective is the advancement of knowledge that ultimately aims to improve consumer and patient health outcomes and/or health system performance. The activity must be undertaken in a structured and ethical way, be formally approved by a research governance or ethics body, and have potential for application outside of the health service in which the activity is undertaken.

For activity based funding purposes, the definition of research relates to the public health service’s contribution to maintain research capability, excluding the costs of research activities that are funded from a source other than the state or territory or provided in kind.