Research well received in Canberra
Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) team members recently attended meetings in Canberra over three days, which raised the profile of the CRE within the Department of Health and Ageing and other organisations such as Health Workforce Australia (HWA).
At the CRE National Advisory Committee in mid-May there were several presentations from postdoctoral fellows and PhD students, including two from Bendigo, Dr Deb Russell (retention) and Dr Bernadette Ward (access).
The National Advisory Committee includes members of leading rural health organisations and community members from across the country.
The consensus from the Committee is that the CRE is on track and providing some valuable evidence about rural and remote primary health care.
On the second day, a whole of CRE team meeting discussed progress and future possibilities post 2014.
On the final day, there were several meetings with the Department of Health and Ageing. A presentation by Emeritus Professor John Humphreys and Professor John Wakerman highlighted how research evidence can translate into policy and was very well received.
There was particular interest in the work of John and Dr Matthew McGrail on the review of the ASGC classifications, and Dr Deb Russell’s work on retention of health workers.
A seminar was also held and was open to all staff at the Department of Health and Ageing. Seventy people attended and were highly engaged. Meetings were also held with the Performance and Quality Branch and several other key personnel of DoHA. All in all, it was a very successful day of meetings and presentations with positive feedback.
The next big conference is the Primary Health Care Research Conference in Sydney in July.
Four CRE staff members will be presenting, Dr Matthew McGrail, Dr Bernadette Ward, Dr Deb Russell and Lisa Lavey. Dr Penny Buykx is also named on a poster presentation by Professor Mike Jones, a CRE Associate Investigator.