The Centre has established a research program which seeks to be responsive to community and health service needs, with an emphasis on collaborative effort and capacity building. The Centre has particular strengths in remote health services research, health services planning and development. Centre staff seek to build partnerships with communities and organisations so that research activities are guided by community knowledge in order to improve the health of people in remote regions of Australia. One of CRH's primary aims has been to support communities to benefit not only from the results of research but also from involvement in the research process. The Centre's capacity building capability was greatly enhanced by the Commonwealth Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development program funding (PHCRED).
The Centre's research activities have been characterised by a broad range of research topics and collaborations. The strong partnerships built over this period will allow further appropriate growth of the Centre's research effort in order to strike a balance of shorter, contracted research and sustained longer term research programs.
Research News
The Centre of Research Excellence launch.
On Tuesday 20th September in Parliament House
Canberra, the Acting Minister for Health, Mark Butler, officially launched the
Centre of Research Excellence (CRE). The Australian Primary Health Care
Research Institute has invested in the CRE as part of its primary health care
research program, intending to make health services more efficient to ensure
best health outcomes for all Australians. The Centre for Remote Health is part of
this recently established CRE, together with the Monash University School of
Rural Health, the Monash University Gippsland Medical School and the University
of Sydney Department of Rural Health, Broken Hill.
Nowhere is the problem of access to health services greater than in
rural and remote areas. Poor access and social inequity are not confined to
non-metropolitan areas. However, for geographically large countries such as
Australia and Canada, these problems translate into major inequities in
resource distribution and service provision. The consequent inequalities in the
health and well-being of rural and remote citizens, especially Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people, are unacceptable. Problems of access to services
have persisted over time, and remain the single biggest impediment to improving
the health outcomes of geographically disadvantaged groups of the population.
The CRE will show how improved access to appropriate primary health
care services for populations with poorest access will increase equity in
health care through improved health literacy, service utilisation and health
outcomes. The Centre will provide systematic evidence and identify objective
criteria related to the nature, volume and distribution of the resources
required to overcome problems of poor access to primary health care services
and to deliver equal health outcomes. This new knowledge will provide health
consumers, service providers and policymakers with the evidence that enables
them to plan, monitor and evaluate the equitable provision of health care for
all Australians.
This research will develop and trial the most appropriate indicators
and their corresponding benchmarks for primary health care services (e.g. workforce
size and mix) and performance (e.g. early intervention, treatment of acute and
chronic disease) that can be used to quantify the volume and distribution of
available care (that is ‘who gets how much of what services’) after taking account
of population size, location and need to minimise barriers (such as distance
and affordability) and maximise access to care. This work will highlight
primary health care models that work best to deliver optimal care in different
contexts, particularly focussing on aged care, mental and Indigenous health.
Click here to visit the CRE website
11th National Rural Health Conference:
The National Rural Health Conference was held in Perth this year. Kylie Stothers received the 2011 friends Unsung Hero award in recognition of the energy and compassion she provides to strengthen her local community. Kylie was nominated by Faye McMillan, President of Indigenous Allied Health Australia (AIHCA), who says "Kylie has a generous spirit and is warm, encouraging, fair and ethical - a wonderful role model in her community". Jess Lopes was also awarded a Des Murray Scholarship, which enabled her to attend and present at the conference.
Kylie Stothers & Janie Smith
© Jen de Vos - Albedo Photography.
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