Improving the health of ageing Australians, coordinating care to prevent poor outcomes and incorporating personal experiences into decision making is the focus of a three-year partnership between Adelaide PHN and Flinders University.

Established in May 2022, the partnership supports the appointment of Stacey George as Professor in Healthy Ageing, Support and Care. The intent of this appointment is to support Adelaide PHN’s Aged Care Program which is about facilitating person-centred services that enable older people to live well and independently in our community, with the involvement of their families and carers.

The vision is to build the research capacity and capability across Adelaide PHN for endeavours that directly respond to the community’s needs in ageing. The appointment will support evidence-based implementation of Australia’s Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan 2022-2032 across Adelaide. Guided by implementation approaches, it will also facilitate rigorous evaluation of both outcomes for older people and changes of practice.

Since the appointment commenced in May 2022, key achievements have included:

• An agreed Strategic Plan between Adelaide PHN and Caring Futures Institute;

• A co-funded PhD Scholarship (commencing in 2023), supporting the integration of the Care Finder initiative with vulnerable populations;

• Development of methodology and an ethics application for an overarching stakeholder framework to inform the commissioning cycle of the Aged Care initiatives; and

• Mixed methods research design for Early Intervention, Residential Aged Care Facilities and use of Telehealth by GPs, evaluating process and outcomes to maximise uptake.

Through this collaboration, the impact in the aged care landscape will be the development and expansion of the translational research agenda to see better care delivered in our community and adapted to the context in which it is being provided – ultimately improving health outcomes for older people.