Director of the University’s Health Services Research Centre Professor Jacqueline Cumming says one of the initiatives being evaluated is designed to give people the support they need to take care of themselves. “Being proactive about healthcare helps people stay healthier longer, and out of hospital.
“Our role has been evaluating various phases of the initiative and then providing recommendations to fine tune its delivery. District health boards are facing increasing demand on services. It’s critical their initiatives perform to their full potential.”
The Centre has also been evaluating CMH’s ‘Health Science Academies’ initiative, which provide extra academic and pastoral help to local secondary school students interested in studying health at tertiary level.
“Our role was to evaluate the Academies’ short-term impact on the students. We found the Academies were positively affecting the students’ grades, and that support from families and teachers was a significant part of their success.”
Most of the initiatives being evaluated by Victoria academics are coordinated through Ko Awatea, the arm of CMH that leads innovative approaches to achieve sustainable and high quality healthcare services. Ko Awatea director Professor Jonathon Gray says the partnership between the two is of “significant value”.
“The Research Centre provides us with rigorous external evaluation, research and evaluation capacity building, and access to world-class experts who can help us in our mission to provide the best care to our populations.”
The partnership between the two is being strengthened through funding from Ko Awatea for two new health services research positions based at the Centre.