Pregnancy is a time when many people have their first experience of continuous care in the health system. This is an opportune time to have a high impact in the lives of parents and their children at the very beginning of their lives. The partnership between the Lyell McEwin women’s and children’s department led by EDONM Vanessa Owen, and Annette Briley as Professor of Reproductive Health and Midwifery, has engaged health professionals to be involved in all steps of research projects that are designed to meet the needs of the service delivery area and provide better care for parents and their families. Research projects around workforce resilience value the importance of the healthcare professionals and creating better systems. This partnership is building research capacity in the clinical area where research outcomes are making a real and positive impact.

Presented by Professor Annette Briley, Professor of Women’s Health & Midwifery Research, Flinders University Caring Futures Institute and Meredith Hobbs RN, RM, MN, Divisional Director (Nursing & Midwifery), Women and Children’s Division Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN).

The early years of life is a key time of growth and development. Parents and caregivers play a critical role in shaping health, development and wellbeing outcomes in childhood and beyond. It is also important that parents and caregivers look after their own health and wellbeing. Supporting parents and caregivers in the early years of a child’s life will benefit families and society. The critical role that parents play in supporting child health, development and wellbeing in the early years occurs in a complex system. Children live in families, families live with in communities, communities exist within a broader context of policy and social norms. Flinders University's Caring Futures Institute and Wellbeing SA have formally partnered to work together in this shared priority area. Flinders Caring Futures Institute is a Wellbeing SA Public Health Partner Authority. This formal partnership will facilitate the ability to deliver evidence-informed policy and practice to benefit children and their families.

Presented by Dr Sarah Hunter, Research Fellow, Healthy Start to Life, a partnership position funded by Wellbeing SA and Flinders University and Dr Natasha Schranz, Early Years, Children and Young People, Health Promotion Branch, Prevention and Population Health Directorate, Wellbeing SA.

Co-design in research is generated from the expectation that researchers will engage people who are part of the communities in meaningful ways. However, it is less common that community researchers contribute across projects from design to analysis of research through to report writing and dissemination. When the research is sensitive, this becomes more challenging to achieve without causing distress to people who are already traumatised. In this discussion, we speak about how we have drawn on our different backgrounds to work together on our project about the ways domestic and family violence affects children and young people with disability. A shared purpose, diverse expertise and varied roles have helped us to contribute a range of strengths to the project. Embedding co-design into our study has had impact in design and data collection. As we move into analysis of our data, we can clearly see the difference it makes. In our conversation, we will talk about how Jala’s regular involvement improves our work and helps our critical thinking.

Presented by Professor Sally Robinson, Professor of Disability and Community Inclusion, Flinders University Caring Futures Institute and Jala Burton, Community Researcher, Flinders University.

Repeated admission to hospital can be stressful for older people and their families and puts additional pressure on the health care system. While there is some evidence about strategies to better integrate care, implementing these strategies is challenging. In this presentation we will describe how we established partnerships working across multiple services and stakeholders to better understand the problem of repeat hospitalisations and develop and test solutions to improve transitions of care. The project highlights the value of bringing together key stakeholders and using a multi-faceted approach to develop practical solutions to a challenging health service problem for frail older people and service providers.

Presented by Professor Gillian Harvey, Matthew Flinders Fellow, Theme Lead: Better Systems, Flinders University Caring Futures Institute and Professor and Maria Crotty, Rehabilitation Physician, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN).

Professor Sue Gordon had a six year co-funded position with ACH Group, an aged care provider in South Australia. During that time she worked closely with  Ivy Diegmann and Dr Edoardo Rosso who lead the ACH Innovation team. This presentation will describe the close relationship between research strategy, development and translation, and business and clinical innovation that has occurred as a result of this collaboration.

Presented by Professor Sue Gordon, Professor, Healthy Ageing, Flinders University Caring Futures Institute with Ivy Diegmann, General Manager Service Design, ACH Group.

The Pinnaroo Project is a powerful example of strong community leadership, multisector involvement and collaboration, and the drive to improve health through creative expression. Participating in various forms of art relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, prevents/delays dementia symptoms in older persons and has also shown to improve quality of life for people with cognitive dysfunction. Residents in the remote South Australian town of Pinnaroo have limited access to healthcare services, and travel to metropolitan specialist services is time-consuming and costly.

To reduce reliance on health services and improve health and social connectedness, the people of Pinnaroo are establishing a community-based arts program. Residents are striving to improve and maintain cardiovascular and general health and wellbeing by implementing a collaborative, community-led, arts and health initiative, the Pinnaroo Project.

Presented by Sara Noonan, registered nurse and cardiovascular health researcher, with Julie Wallis and Deb Colwill, Pinnaroo Project Community Members.

Lesley Dwyer was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Central Adelaide Local Health Network in November 2018. 

Lesley is an experienced executive manager with more than 30 years’ experience across the public health system.  Lesley has held senior executive roles in government and health services within the Australian health system and within the National Health Service in the UK.

Lesley has extensive experience and knowledge gained within primary, community and tertiary healthcare settings, working collaboratively across agencies and jurisdictions. She has led multifaceted change and improvement programs aimed at raising organisational performance and integrating service delivery across healthcare systems.

Lesley has worked in a number of leadership roles at times of significant health reform and has developed a thorough understanding and experience of public sector accountabilities, effective governance and performance frameworks, which have ensured the effectiveness and quality of services delivered.

Lesley’s clinical background is in nursing and she has tertiary qualifications in health management.

Lesley Dwyer

On the eve of her retirement in 2008 Annette’s husband suffered a massive stroke. She had had a career in teaching - Sydney and country NSW, Canada and finally Adelaide, with the last 12 years in the position of Head of Boarding at an Adelaide College.

After his five and a half months hospitalisation Annette became Gerry’s carer, and well-placed to play a role in Consumer Representation and Advocacy. Since 2010 she has been able to offer a consumer perspective on issues and practical aspects of evolving treatments, protocols and services as they affect stroke survivors and their families via various committees including SA Stroke Network, Australian Stroke Coalition, SA Safety and Quality Consumers’ Committee and most recently SA Stroke Community of Practice.

She has also participated in the Aged Care sector pilot programs around Consumer Directed Care and contributes to research projects supporting carers of stroke survivors.

Annette and Gerry, who at the time of his stroke had a busy sole Criminal Law practice, are well supported by their 10 children and 19 grandchildren. They recognise the life-changing nature of stroke and encourage Annette to explore best outcomes for all families on the Stroke Journey.

Annette McGrath

Mary Patetsos is a professional Board Director, serving on both National and South Australian Boards with a rare blend of academic qualifications and expertise. Her skills and experience combined with an extensive national network enable her to add significant value to organisations at many levels. Her commitment to achieve positive change drives her ambition. She contends that a strong belief in the worthiness of learning and work have become her key motivator. Mary is currently working in the health, aged care, housing and tertiary education sectors.

Mary Patetsos

Julie Ratcliffe is the Mathew Flinders Professor of Health Economics in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. She is also the inaugural health and social care economics theme lead for the Caring Futures Institute. Julie has co-authored over 200 articles related to the economics of health and social care policy appearing in leading medical and discipline specific journals including Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal, Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics.

Julie has recently led a program of work for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to investigate the general public’s preferences for quality of care and future funding of Australia’s aged care system. Julie is also the lead investigator for an Australian Research Council funded project to develop a suite of new quality of life instruments for aged care, working with provider organisations and older Australians spanning five Australian states and territories. She holds Honorary Professorial appointments at the School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield and the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow.  Julie is the health and social care economics expert member of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) Council on Economic Policy, and the current elected President of the Australian Health Economics Society.

Professor Julie Ratcliffe

Tom Symonds has been an Adelaide Primary Health Network (Adelaide PHN) Board Director since 2016 and prior to that chaired the Adelaide PHN’s Community Advisory Council. He has chaired it’s Board of Directors for two years. Having worked in health services management in the UK and South Australia for 20+ years he has extensive experience of the complexities and challenges of delivering today’s healthcare. Tom has a strong interest in innovative service delivery in the community such as maximising the benefits of digital health. He is also passionate about strong public involvement in the planning and delivery of health and care services, as an integral part of ensuring the highest quality care possible.

Other past leadership roles include responsibilities for supporting the delivery of high-quality health and medical teaching and research programs within the University sector,  and Tom is a proud former employee of Flinders University! Tom has a deep knowledge and interest in health workforce development and regulation, serving as a Community Member of both the South Australian Boards of the Medical Board of Australia and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, plus the Australian Medical Council. Tom currently works for the SA Government as Business Growth Manager at the Lot Fourteen Innovation District.

Tom Symonds

Prof Raymond Chan (RN, BNurs, MAppSc, PhD, FACN, GAICD) holds prestigious titles as NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Matthew Flinders Fellow. Ray is a specialist cancer nurse and is currently leading a number of implementation-effectiveness trials in optimising shared-care to address the needs of cancer survivors. Ray has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and 2 book chapters. He currently also holds leadership and board director roles across a number of national and international organisations.

Professor Ray Chan
Director, Caring Futures Institute
Professor of Cancer Nursing, Flinders University