Better Health – Partnership Projects

A funding program to help create partnerships among decision makers, policy makers, managers, clinicians and researchers. 

Overview

NHMRC Partnerships for Better Health – Partnership Projects (Partnership Projects) will help create partnerships among decision makers, policy makers, managers, clinicians and researchers. This funding scheme provides funding and support to create new opportunities for researchers and policy makers to work together to define research questions and undertake research and also to interpret and implement the findings.

Partnership Projects will answer a specific research question to influence health and well-being through changes in the delivery, organisation, funding and access to health services.

Application Process

NHMRC has changed the arrangements for this scheme to allow applicants to apply at any time during the year rather than through just one annual round. This process also allows researchers and partner organisations to develop timely collaborations. As each round closes, the next round will open on the following day. The peer review process has been streamlined to allow multiple rounds during the year. The grant commencement date will not be fixed for 1 January – it will be aligned with the timing of each round. Therefore, funding will be provided more quickly after grants are awarded/announced and when all necessary documentation is in place.

Timing

More Information

• Partnership Projects – Funding Rules
• Partnership Projects – Instructions
• Partnership Projects – Peer Review Guidelines

Recipients

Minister for Health Tanya Plibersek today announced $7.9 million for 11 Partnerships for Better Health – Partnership Projects including research into medication regimes for kidney transplants, chlamydia testing, work-related asthma and cancer, suicide prevention, and mental health disorders in rural children.

Ms Plibersek made the announcement today at the University of Adelaide where she met with grant recipient Professor John Lynch who will receive $273,131 for a whole-of-population study into child health and development.

This study is supported by the Gillard Government and project partners from the Women’s and Children’s Health Network and the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development.

“The Gillard Government is focussed on improved patient care, better disease prevention and more cost-effective delivery of services,” Ms Plibersek said.

Jointly funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council and partners, the grants will encourage alliances between partners who deliver health care services, partners who make decisions about health practice, and researchers who can offer tailored, evidence-based solutions.

“This aligns with recommendations from the recently released McKeon Review’s call to imbed research into all facets of the health system,” Ms Plibersek said.

“Collaboration in research provides a great example of where the whole is greater than the sum of parts.”

The Partnership Project partners include Commonwealth and State agencies, hospitals, medical research institutes, and patient advocacy groups.

“Each partner has an important contribution to make and comes to the table to find workable solutions to a set of problems. By encouraging collaboration, we can share our knowledge and experiences and pool our resources to get the most out of research to benefit Australians,” Ms Plibersek said.

South Australia

Title:
Child health and development: a South Australian data linkage study

Research Institution:
University of Adelaide

Partner organisations:

• Women’s and Children’s Health Network
• Department for Education and Child Development

Chief Investigator A:
Professor John Lynch

Funding amount:
$273,131

Children’s healthy development is important for their readiness to learn, academic achievement at school, and for their future health and economic capability. This study links whole-of-population administrative data from nine different government sources, and data collected evaluating the effects of the South Australian Family Home Visiting program to inform policy and service delivery in child health and development in South Australia.

Western Australia

Title:
The Extended Australian Workplace Exposures Study – AWES2

Research Institution:
University of Western Australia

Partner organisations:

• Safe Work Australia
• Cancer Council Western Australia
• Cancer Council Australia

Chief Investigator A:
Professor Lin Fritschi

Funding amount:
$384,515

Work-related asthma and cancer are largely preventable conditions however there is a need to understand the risks faced by workers in order to direct prevention policy and practice. The team will survey 5000 Australian workers to estimate the exposure to asthma – and cancer – causing agents in the workplace. This partnership between university researchers and government and non-government organisations will provide a sound basis for determining how to decrease the number of these occupational diseases.

Queensland

Title:
The Women’s Wellness after Cancer Program

Research Institution:
Queensland University of Technology

Partner organisations:

• Queensland University of Technology
• University of Notre Dame Australia
• St John of God Murdoch Hospital
• Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute
• Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
• Kim Walters Choices Program
• CanSpeak Queensland
• Central Queensland University
• Breast Cancer Network Australia
• Sydney Nursing School, The University of Sydney
• Cancer Services Southern Clinical Network

Chief Investigator A:
Professor Debra Anderson

Funding amount:
$1,165,260

Advances in diagnostics, treatment and clinical practice have transformed some cancers from fatal to chronic and sometimes curable diseases. Many Australian women now live with the effects of cancer treatment and are at risk of cancer recurrence, chronic disease and poor quality of life. The Womens Wellness After Cancer Program aims to maximise the wellbeing of women treated for cancer, utilising internet and Smartphone technology to support them to live healthier lifestyles.

Title:
Improving access to psychological services for people with cancer

Research Institution:
Griffith University

Partner organisation:

• Cancer Council Queensland

Chief Investigator A:
Professor Suzanne Chambers

Funding amount:
$587,271

Approximately 35% of people diagnosed with cancer will experience persistent significant distress. Psychological supportive care needs in Australian cancer patients are highly prevalent. The web presents a unique method of delivery of supportive care, however to our knowledge this type of intervention has not been examined. This two-phased study will develop and test a novel web-based intervention to improve psychological outcomes in cancer patients experiencing distress.

New South Wales

Title:
Improving the Mental Health Outcomes of People with Intellectual Disability

Research Institution:
University of New South Wales

Partner organisations:

• Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
• NSW Ministry of Health, Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Office
• NSW Ministry of Health, Justice Health
• NSW Department of Attorney General and Justice, Office of the Public Guardian
• NSW Department of Family and Community Services, Ageing, Disability and HomeCare
• NSW Department of Education and Communities
• NSW Ombudsman
• National and NSW Council for Intellectual Disability
• National Disability Service
• Agency for Clinical Innovation – Intellectual Disability Network
• Mental Health Review Tribunal

Chief Investigator A:
Associate Professor Julian Trollor

Funding amount:
$1,133,558

Australians with an intellectual disability have very high rates of mental illness but experience very poor access to mental health services. The team will develop a sound evidence base on the profile of mental ill health, service use, pathways to care and mental health policy for people with intellectual disability. Together with consumers and support persons, the team will examine ways to improve mental health services for people with intellectual disability.

Title:
An evidence-based intervention for mental health disorders in rural children

Research Institution:
University of New South Wales

Partner organisation:

• Royal Far West

Chief Investigator A:
Professor Mark Dadds

Funding amount:
$1,265,015

This research partnership between Royal Far West, a leading provider of health services to children from rural regions, and the Child Behaviour Research Clinic at University of New South Wales, will develop and evaluate a transportable model of early intervention to improve access and outcomes for rural children with early-onset mental health and their families.

Victoria

Title:
A multi-centre randomized controlled trial to prevent secondary falls in older people presenting to the emergency department with a fall

Research Institution:
Monash University

Partner organisations:

• Government of Western Australia Health Networks Branch
• Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Area Rehabilitation and Aged Care Falls Specialist Program
• Curtin University
• Department of Health Western Australia
• Injury Control Council of Western Australia
• Royal Perth Hospital
• The George Institute for Global Health
• The Alfred Hospital
• Monash University
• The Royal Perth Hospital Medical Research Foundation
• Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine

Chief Investigator A:
Dr Anna Barker

Funding amount:
$1,488,315

Falls are a leading cause for presentation to Emergency Departments (EDs) by older patients. More than 50% who present to ED with a fall injury have fallen in the previous year. RESPOND is an innovative post-ED discharge program designed to reduce secondary falls in older people. RESPOND extends current falls prevention research and practice by incorporating patient-centred education with behaviour change strategies proven to be effective in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events.

Title:
Improving medicine adherence in kidney transplants

Research Institution:
Monash University

Partner organisations:

• Royal Melbourne Hospital Nephrology Unit
• Southern Health
• Victorian Kidney Transplant Collaborative
• Alfred Health

Chief Investigator A:
Associate Professor Allison Williams

Funding amount:
$256,656

Poor adherence to prescribed medicines risks kidney transplant rejection and increased morbidity. This project will develop and test a program to help adults requiring a kidney transplant to take their medicines as prescribed. Better medicine adherence results in improved graft life, general well-being, and reduced health care costs.

Title:
Building the evidence base for suicide prevention: The Victorian Suicide Register

Research Institution:
University of Melbourne

Partner organisations:

• Coroners Court of Victoria
• Lifeline Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Chief Investigator A:
Professor Jane Pirkis

Funding amount:
$182,893

This partnership between the Coroners Court of Victoria, the Lifeline Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the University of Melbourne and Monash University will develop and evaluate a suicide register. The register will contain detailed information on those who die and the circumstances surrounding their deaths. This information is not systematically collected elsewhere, and will help prevent future suicides by informing coroners’ recommendations and strengthening the broader evidence base.

Title:
Bridging the gap: addressing refugee inequalities through primary health care service reform

Research Institution:
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

Partner organisations:

• Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture
• Southern Health
• Sunshine Hospital
• Victorian Department of Health
• South Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local
• City of Wyndham
• Municipal Association of Victoria
• Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
• South West Melbourne Medicare Local
• City of Greater Dandenong

Chief Investigator A:
Dr Jane Yelland

Funding amount:
$660,947

This project will develop and test interventions to reform maternity and maternal and child health systems to tackle known inequalities in health and health care for vulnerable families, particularly clients of refugee backgrounds. Innovation in system redesign and service delivery will result in sustainable improvements in access to, and quality of, care and measurable improvements in maternal, newborn and child health.

Title:
Should Australia introduce a national chlamydia testing program?

Research Institution:
University of Melbourne

Partner organisations:

• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
• Australian Practice Nurses Association
• NSW Ministry of Health
• Victorian Department of Health

Chief Investigator A:
Associate Professor Jane Hocking

Funding amount:
$492,397

Chlamydia is a very common sexually transmissible infection that can lead to infertility in women. About 4% of young adults have the infection, yet most are unaware they have it. Chlamydia is easy to diagnose and treat, but it is not known whether annual testing can reduce its spread. Over one million tests are conducted each year in general practice, costing the government $30 million. This evaluation of a well-established trial of chlamydia testing in young adults will resolve the debate of whether annual testing works and is a good use of money.