Page 3881 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 September 2018
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the College of Health and Medicine, ANU; Professor Ross Hannan, Centenary Chair in Cancer Research and head of the ACRF Department of Cancer Biology and Therapeutics at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the ANU and also the Director of Research at ACT Health; Sean Hannan, Senior Government Relations Adviser from Strategic Communications and Public Affairs at ANU; and Professor Karen Strickland, Professor of Nursing and Head of School at the University of Canberra.
The ANU played a key role in facilitating and participating in the discussions with the University of Otago, Christchurch, and I thank the ANU very much for this open collaboration, which we very much look forward to continuing.
We held a very productive session with leaders from the Canterbury District Health Board and the University of Otago Medical School, located at the Christchurch hospital, to discuss how their close relationship works with regard to governance structures, stakeholder engagement and collaborative funding models for academics, infrastructure and student training. The governance structure, both within the university itself and the way it guides relationships between the university and the health board itself, was innovative and refreshing.
Much of this session was dedicated to understanding the structure and detail and considering how the current arrangements differ here in the ACT with respect to the ANU Medical School, UC and ACT Health, particularly where staff share roles across all organisations. This was a beneficial opportunity for the delegation to reflect upon and consider how best we might expand and improve this here in the ACT.
We also had the opportunity to meet with Pegasus Health, who provide services and support to general practices and community-based health providers. The model they use genuinely wraps around patients and makes the most of community health and primary care, in collaboration with acute tertiary level care when it is needed. It is one significant benefit of having one level of government responsible for funding and delivering health care. While we do not have as many levers available to us in the ACT and Australia, there were nonetheless useful lessons we can take away from the CDHB model.
Our discussion also focused on healthcare initiatives that meet the cultural needs of a diverse local population while delivering health care across primary care, health and wellbeing services, mental health services and long-term care for people living with chronic conditions.
We were also really pleased to visit the newly opened Manawa building, a joint teaching and research facility between the Canterbury District Health Board, Ara Institute—effectively their local TAFE—and the University of Canterbury. It was wonderful to see what can be achieved with well-designed spaces for clinical teaching for a wide range of members of the health workforce.
I also note the very recent announcement by the University of Otago of their plans to build a $150 million state-of-the-art facility for their Christchurch health research staff and laboratories in the same post-earthquake health precinct in Christchurch. The
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