New consortium eyes primary care system reforms

‘Delivering even better care to all our patients’ is the goal of a new project headed up by Australia’s former Deputy Chief Medical Officer and GP, Professor Michael Kidd.
 
The former RACGP President has, this month, been granted $5.2 million in federal funding to lead the establishment of a National Multidisciplinary Primary Care Research, Policy and Advocacy Consortium.
 
The consortium, which is funded for five years, is one of the largest research collaborations dedicated to improving primary care in Australia.
 
Professor Kidd, who is currently Director of the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), is leading one of seven projects across Australian universities that will share in $22 million for primary care research through the Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
 
‘Now that the funding has been announced, our work begins,’ Professor Kidd told newsGP.
 
The consortium will conduct research into how multidisciplinary team-based primary care models work at local and regional levels to improve health outcomes, particularly among priority populations.
 
‘This is about delivering even better care to all our patients,’ Professor Kidd said.
 
‘Consumers are the primary beneficiaries of this program of work, and a core feature of the impact of the work of the consortium will be active and meaningful involvement of consumers in all aspects of the planned research.’
 
The National Multidisciplinary Primary Care Research, Policy and Advocacy Consortium will produce evidence-based guidance on the adoption, or improvement, of models of multidisciplinary team-based primary care, to inform ongoing discussions around future primary care reforms.
 
The consortium involves 100 investigators, including ‘many of the nation’s leading GP clinician researchers’, alongside those in nursing, midwifery, dentistry, pharmacy, Aboriginal Health Workers, and allied health professionals.
 
‘This should ensure that the work of the consortium will be focused on real work challenges and provide practical solutions,’ Professor Kidd said.
 
More than 30 national peak organisations are also involved with the consortium, including the RACGP, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACCRM) and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
 
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright will also work on the project alongside Professor Kidd.
 
‘This is an exciting opportunity to properly design and evaluate the health systems of the future which need to be built around high-quality primary care,’ Dr Wright said.
 
‘I am optimistic that the ideas that this consortium generates will be practical, scalable and implementable.’

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Medical Research Future Fund multidisciplinary team primary care research funding