Health care research collaboration between NZ and Canada

27 June 2013

Community-based primary health care research collaboration between New Zealand and Canadian researchers

The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has announced funding for a research collaboration in which New Zealand and Canadian researchers will work together to explore ways to better care for older people with high health needs in the community.

This joint research project is being led by Professor Toni Ashton at The University of Auckland in New Zealand and by Dr Walter Wodchis at the University of Toronto in Canada. The research will be carried out over five years and will seek to identify and implement innovative integrated community-based primary health care models that address the health and social needs of older adults with complex care needs.

The HRC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will jointly fund the research project, with the HRC investing $1.2 million and the CIHR investing $2.5 million. This joint funding partnership builds on the existing history of partnering and collaborative work between the two organisations.

The overall objective of this funding initiative is to develop innovative solutions to improve the delivery of community-based primary health care, with a focus on key areas such as chronic disease prevention and management, and access issues for vulnerable populations.

The HRC component of this research partnership is funded through the HRC Partnership Programme. The Canadian component of this research partnership is part of the CIHR’s wider transformative community-based primary health care initiative, which seeks to fund community-based primary health care with a range of external partners, both within Canada and internationally.

Go to www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/47018.html to view the Canadian Institutes of Health Research media announcement about this collaboration.

Implementing models of primary health care for older adults with complex needs

60 months, $1,199,925

Principal Investigator: Professor Toni Ashton, The University of Auckland

Project summary:

This research programme addresses the question: What are the steps to implementing innovative integrated community-based primary health care (CBPHC) models that address the health and social needs of older adults with complex care needs? The programme is directed at 4 levels of analysis: policy, organisation, provider, and patient and family/caregiver and will be conducted in 3 phases. Phase 1 identifies and describes successful integrated CBPHC models; phase 2 involves in-depth case studies of exemplar models and creates a framework to explain conditions that lead to successful implementation; phase 3 evaluates the implementation of innovative CBPHC models.

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